Welcoming the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill by the Parliament, the Nagaland Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee (NPMCC) on Monday asserted that women must avail the opportunities with gratitude and fill the reserved seats, if not in the open seats.
In a press note, NPMCC president N. Lucy recalled “long history” of women reservation bill, saying the bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha as 108 Constitution amendment during UPA government in 2010. However, she said the bill could not be passed in the Lok Sabha due to opposition from BJP and some other parties.
NPMCC president expressed gratitude to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her commitment and undying efforts.
NPMCC chief claimed that 20 seats would be reserved for women in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly from next election, adding that the remaining 40 seats would be open. She said that Congress women would fill at least 20 seats if not more for the state assembly and also 33% in ULB elections.
Asserting that “socialist secularism” was the basic objective of Congress party, NPMCC president said “We believe in justice, liberty, equality of status, opportunity and fraternity as is expressed in the Preamble to the Constitution of India.”
Mahila Congress president said the door was now open for women to actively participate in the process of decision making and law making. NPMCC appealed to women of all ages to join Congress. NPMCC said it would organize trainings to enable members to become legislators.