Unfair ratio of women in LS

Hyderabad

March 24: Women empowerment has remained only on paper for the last 13 years though all political parties assured that they would provide 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament.
Both the Congress and the BJP are once again promising to introduce the Women Reservation Bill if voted to power.
The Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who released the party’s manifesto in New Delhi on Tuesday, assured that political empowerment of women will become a reality only if the UPA comes to power.
Women organisations, however, said no party is sincere about giving one-third quota to women in legislative bodies. According to them, the number of women MPs in the Lok Sabha will not cross 50 this time as well since many parties are not keen to field women in polls.
In the 2004 polls, 45 women were elected to Parliament which is just 8.29 per cent of the House strength. In the 1999 elections, women got the highest representation with 49 being elected. Women organisations say parties have to allocate more seats until the Women’s Reservation Bill is passed in Parliament.