All-party meeting: Parties push for passage of women's reservation bill in Parliament session

Several ruling and opposition parties on Sunday made a strong pitch for the passage of the women's reservation bill during the five-day Parliament session beginning Monday.

At an all-party meeting convened by the government on the eve of the session, several leaders said the long-pending bill should be tabled and hoped that it can be passed with consensus.

The bill seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

However, some regional parties demanded quota for backward classes and Scheduled Castes within the overall reservation for women, sources said. This has been a key sticking point in the passage of the bill earlier.

"All opposition parties demanded the passage of women's reservation bill in this Parliament session," Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.

BJP ally and NCP leader Praful Patel said, "We appeal to govt to pass the women's reservation bill in this Parliament session." "We are hopeful that women's reservation bill will be passed with consensus if tabled in Parliament," he added.