Govt Plans To Table Bills In Parliament For 33% Women's Quota In J&K, Puducherry

As the Parliament Winter session enters its ninth day, the government is planning to introduce two bills for the reservation of 33 percent of seats for women in the assemblies of J&K and Puducherry.

Parliament Winter Session: The government is planning to introduce two bills in Parliament on Tuesday for reservation of 33 per cent seats for women in the assemblies of Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry, news agency PTI reported, citing sources.

In September, the Parliament passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam to provide reservation of one-third of seats for women in Lok Sabha and Assemblies. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam shall come into effect after a delimitation exercise is undertaken in 2029.

There are 30 assembly constituencies in Puducherry while in Jammu and Kashmir, after the delimitation, the total seats in the assembly rose to 114 seats, out of which 24 seats are designated for areas that fall under Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. 

Apart from women reservation bills, both Houses of Parliament are slated to take up important bills on the ninth day of the Winter Session, as Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is to move the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, in the Rajya Sabha for consideration and passage to regulate the appointment, conditions of service and term of office of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, and the procedure for transaction of business by the Election Commission.

Meghwal will also move the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2023, in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday for consideration and passage to repeal certain enactments and amend an enactment. The Bill was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile on Monday, the Rajya Sabha passed two bills providing reservation to the Kashmiri Pandit migrants and displaced people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. Both the bills -- the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 -- were passed by the Lok Sabha on December 6.

Home Minister Amit Shah, during a discussion in the Rajya Sabha, said, "Earlier there were 37 seats in Jammu, now after the new delimitation commission, there are 43 seats. Earlier there were 46 in Kashmir, now there are 47."