Women members demand 50% reservation in coming polls

Bangalore: Women members of Zilla, Taluk and
Gram panchayasts today demanded that Karnataka Government
provide 50 per cent reservation to the fairer sex in the
coming election scheduled to be held by March end next year.

The women members under the banner of SUGRAMA, a
federation of elected gram panchayat members of Karnataka,
submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa
seeking enhancing the present quota of 33 per cent reservation
to 50 percent.

Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttarkhand and
Bihar have already declared 50 percent reservation to women,
the memorandum pointed out.

They also wanted the term of heads of panchayats to be
enhanced to five years from the present 30 months.

PTI