The Maharashtra Assembly late on Wednesday unanimously approved 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies. The government had promised reservation for women in elections to panchayat samitis, zilla parishads, municipal councils and municipal corporations in the State.
Earlier in the budget session, as promised by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, two Bills carrying amendments to the legislation on local bodies to grant 50 per cent reservation in seats to women were introduced in the State Assembly.
One Bill was to amend the Bombay Village Panchayat Act 1958 and the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act 1961, to effect an increase in the reservation for women from one third of the total number of seats to one half of the total seats. The government wanted to raise the total number of seats and offices for women in all three tiers of Panchayat Raj institutions as women formed 50 per cent of the population.
Another Bill was introduced to amend the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949, the City of Nagpur Corporation Act, 1948, and the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965, so as to raise the reservation for women.
States such as Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal had passed Bills to increase the women's quota to 50 per cent in local bodies, according to State Rural Development Minister Jayant Patil. The Congress and its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), have been vying for the credit for the hike in reservation. It is one of the campaigning points for the elections, coming up later during this year and in the next, to panchayat samitis, zilla parishad and municipal bodies, including in Mumbai.
