 bill no  87 of  2010 the representation of the people (amendment) bill, 2010 by shrimati maneka gandhi, mp a billfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1951be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-first year of  the republic of india as follows:—short title and commencement43 of 19512  in the representation of the people act, 1951, in part v, after section 32, the following sections shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section 32a, etcdefinitions"32a in this part, in sections 32b to 32d, unless the context otherwise requires,—5(i) "bye-election" means an election to fill a vacant seat or seats in the house of the people or the legislative assembly of a state between regularly scheduled general elections;(ii) "candidate" means a person who has been duly nominated by a recognized political party to contest any election to the house of the people or the legislative assembly of a state;10(iii) "general election" means any election held, after the commencement of this act, for the purpose of constituting the house of the people or the legislative assembly of a state, as the case may be;(iv) "recognized political party" means a national party or a state party as defined in the election symbols (reservation and allotment) order, 1968;co 2959 of 196815(v) "reserved constituency" means a parliamentary constituency or an assembly constituency reserved for the scheduled castes or the scheduled tribes; and(vi) "state" includes union territories2032b (1) notwithstanding anything contained in this act or any other law, byelaw, rule or order for the time being in force, at least one-third of the candidates set up by every recognized political party for contesting any general election shall be women:provided that the number of women candidates set up by any recognized political party under this sub-section in reserved constituencies in a state shall be at least onethird of the total reserved constituencies in that state25compulsory nomination of one-third of women candidates by every recognized political party in general elections(2) in sub-section (1), for the purpose of determining one-third women candidates, the total number of parliamentary constituencies in a state shall be regarded as a unit in the case of general election to the house of the people and the total number of assembly constituencies in a state shall be regarded as a unit in the case of general election to the legislative assembly of that state:3035provided that in the case of states having less than three parliamentary constituencies, the election commission shall determine a cluster of two or more states (including the state having less than three parliamentary constituencies) and the total number of parliamentary constituencies in such states shall be regarded as a unit for the purpose of determining one-third women candidates to be set up by every recognized political party under sub-section (1) for contesting general election to the house of the people32c (1) notwithstanding anything contained in this act or any other law, byelaw, rule or order for the time being in force, at least one-third of the candidates set up by every recognized political party for contesting any bye-election shall be women40(2) in sub-section (1), for the purpose of determining one-third women candidates, the total number of seats which are to be filled by holding bye-election to the house of the people or the legislative assembly of a state, as the case may be, shall be regarded as a unit:compulsory nomination of one-third of women candidates by every recognized political party in byeelections45provided that the provision of this sub-section shall not apply if the number of seats of be filled by holding bye-election is less than three:provided further that in the bye-election the political party which had set up a woman candidate from that constituency in the general election shall again field a woman candidate from that constituency in the bye-election32d (1) it shall be the duty of the election commission to ensure the compliance of the provisions of this actelection commission to ensure compliance of the provisions of the act5(2) where a recognized political party fails to comply with the provisions of this act, for the shortfall of every women candidate, such two male candidates set up by a political party, as that political party may decide, shall be treated as independent candidates for all purposes including the allotment of symbol" statement of objects and reasonsthe issue of empowerment of women has been raised in different fora in the country from time to time political empowerment of women is rightly perceived as a powerful and indispensable tool for eliminating gender inequality and discrimination the level of political participation of women in any society acts as a reliable barometer of the health of its democracygiven the existing and pervasive gender discrimination in india, women's representation in politics requires special consideration therefore, it is urgently required that special measures are taken to enhance women's political participation in ways that help them to influence decision-making at all levels of our society and polityproviding constitutional and legal mechanisms to enhance women's representation in legislative bodies including the house of people and legislative assemblies of the states are necessary for achieving the aforesaid objectsthe previous central governments had introduced bills providing for reservation of not less than one-third of total number of seats for women in the house of the people and in the legislative assemblies of the states however, all the bills lapsed on dissolution of the house of the people as a result, no bill could see the light of the day at present also, a bill on this subject is pending before lok sabhathe debate accompanying the above efforts has greatly highlighted the need for creation of an appropriate mechanism that achieves the objective of enhanced women's representation in all legislative bodies without suffering from the flaws of mechanical reservation and rotation such a mechanism should not violate the basic principles of democratic representation it should also not result in a distortion of legitimate political incentives in a constituency and should not reduce women's participation in legislatures to merely ornamental presence additionally, such a mechanism must also provide for the representation of those classes or groups of citizens including backward classes and minorities, which are currently not having adequate representation in the legislatures informed public debate and analysis has revealed that the above can be eminently achieved not by a constitutional amendment that provides for mechanical reservation of seats for women coupled with mandatory rotation at the end of each term, but by the more democratic and practicable option of mandating parties to nominate women as their candidates during elections to the house of the people and legislative assemblies of the statesthe bill, accordingly, seeks to amend the representation of  the people act, 1951 with a view to provide that at least one-third of the candidates set up by every recognized political party for contesting elections to the house of the people or the legislative assembly of a state shall be womennew delhi;maneka gandhijuly 13, 2010———— a billfurther to amend the representation of the people act, 1951————(shrimati maneka gandhi, mp)gmgipmrnd—3345ls(s3)—03-08-2010