Pranab Mukherjee calls for early passage of Women's Reservation Bill

Former president Pranab Mukherjee today called for early passage of the Women's Reservation Bill to give adequate representation to women in the parliament and legislative assemblies.

Addressing at an event here to celebrate the 102nd birth anniversary of Justice V R Krishna Iyer, Mukherjee said the proposal remains in suspension and it was time the bill was passed.

He said that a country like Britain took decades to give voting rights to women, whereas in India women were granted the right immediately after the enforcement of the Constitution, but the proposal to give adequate representation to women in the parliament was still in suspension.

Mukherjee made a strong pitch for reviving the Constitution Amendment Bill to give 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and the state assemblies. "I advocate for early passage of the Women Reservation Bill," he said.