Raipur, July 19: The BJP today rejected the Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi`s formula of 20 per cent quota for women in Parliament and state assemblies. Instead, the party called for 33 per cent reservation for women with increased number of seats in the Parliament. Under tremendous pressure from its women members, the party said it favoured reservation of 33 per cent seats in Lok Sabha as double-member constituencies to accommodate them.
"The BJP is now of the considered view that 33 per cent of the seats in lok sabha be made double-member constituencies. One of the two seats be mandatorily reserved for women in these constituencies which would change on a rotational basis," the party said in a resolution adopted unanimously on the second day of the three-day national executive meeting here. Pointing out that the proposal would increase the total number of members in the Lok Sabha by 181, the resolution said the same formula can be adopted in the state legislatures.
The party urged the NDA government to take necessary initiatives in this matter and introduce a suitable constitutional amendment bill in Parliament at the earliest. Earlier, in its draft resolution, the party had suggested 20 per cent of seats as double-member constitutencies but this was opposed vehemently by the party`s women leaders, including Uma Bharati and Sushma Swaraj. Bureau Report