Friday, August 26 2005 10:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The much-hyped Women Reservation Bill is unlikely to be taken up in the current session of Parliament, with consensus among political parties still eluding the legislation that seeks to earmark 33 per cent seats for them in the Lok Sabha and State Legislatures.

"A consensus amongst political parties is yet to be arrived at," Minister of State for Law and Justice, K Venkatapathy said in the Lok Sabha yesterday (August 25, 2005) while replying to a debate on a Private Member Resolution on the subject.

Asserting that United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government was committed to introduce the Bill, he said it could become a reality only after a consensus was arrived at and the Government was making sincere efforts in this direction.

"There is no doubt that UPA wants to empower women socially, politically, economic and in all spheres. Discussion with the political parties is going on," he said.

C K Chandrappan (Communist Party of India), who mooted the resolution seeking reservation of one-third of seats for women in all the State Legislatures and Parliament, said for introducing the Bill, Government must have a political will to do so.

"Consensus will never be there. They (UPA Government) should honour the commitment they made to the people of this country," he said.

With a view to arriving at consensus, the minister said the Government had a meeting of UPA on August 23, 2005, followed by a meeting of leaders of all political parties on August 24, 2005 to ascertain their views. However, due to divergence of opinion, no consensus could be arrived at.

"I hope an agreeable formula could be arrived at in near future. This also includes the formula of the Election Commission put forth by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)," he added.