New Delhi: Rejecting Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's proposal of double member constituencies, several Women's organisations on August 20 described it as "insulting" to women and demanded passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form in the current session of Parliament.

"Not a single women's organisation supports the double member constituency proposal as an alternative to the one third reservation of seats provided for in the present Women's Reservation Bill. On the contrary this proposal is insulting to women," representatives of various women's organisations said in a letter to Prime Minister.

They said if the seats to be reserved for women were converted into double member constituencies, no woman elected on such a reserved seat would have the right to represent her constituency independently while the unreserved seats would be single member. "This is rank discrimination against women," they said.

They, however, said the proposal could be acceptable only if all seats in Parliament and state Assemblies were declared double member.

PTI