Women’s Bill in India Passes

A bill that will reserve a third of the seats in the legislature for women passed in India’s upper house Tuesday.
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Women’s Bill in India Passes
Women supporters of India's ruling Congress Party carry placards portraying party president Sonia Gandhi as they rally in support of the proposed Women's Reservation Bill in New Delhi on March 8. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)
3/9/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/indiasecond97529044.jpg" alt="Women supporters of India's ruling Congress Party carry placards portraying party president Sonia Gandhi as they rally in support of the proposed Women's Reservation Bill in New Delhi on March 8. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Women supporters of India's ruling Congress Party carry placards portraying party president Sonia Gandhi as they rally in support of the proposed Women's Reservation Bill in New Delhi on March 8. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1822264"/></a>
Women supporters of India's ruling Congress Party carry placards portraying party president Sonia Gandhi as they rally in support of the proposed Women's Reservation Bill in New Delhi on March 8. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)

A bill that will reserve a third of the seats in the legislature for women passed in India’s upper house Tuesday. The bill met with vehement opposition from several MPs on Monday, but then passed Tuesday after a lively discussion.

“I am very happy,” said Indian National Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, speaking with New Delhi TV after the bill passed.

She added that the issue was important for her as it was part of the vision of her deceased husband former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The government’s decision to push ahead with the bill may widen developing political rifts and reduce the United Progressive Alliance’s numbers in the lower house.

Introduced first in 1996, the bill must still pass India’s lower house, the Lok Sabha.