Naga CM Calls For Women's Reservation In Municipalities

The women’s reservation bill is creating quite a furore around the country. On Thursday, the Nagaland assembly repealed the 2012 resolution which stated that there wouldn’t be any reservation for women in municipalities.

Chief minister T R Zeliang has now announced that there will be reservation for women and if no woman candidate comes forward, then the government will send out a notice nominating women candidates to fill the seats.

This commendable move came after the Naga Mothers' Association (NMA) filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the 2012 law, said R. Tohanba, the Parliamentary Secretary for Municipal Affairs, Economics and Statistics, as reported by Indian Express.

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He further added that the decision to revoke the decision was taken as it was in contradiction with the Constitution. Also, it would be difficult to convince the court about the validity of the 2012 law. The other limitations in keeping with the law were technical challenges in conducting polls in municipal and town councils.

After the declaration by the CM, a voting system was conducted through voice votes in the assembly when Independent MLA N Thomas Ngullie walked out of the discussion, saying that the matter should be taken to the public to decide.

In September 2012, Nagaland was discharged from the application of Article 243(T), Part IX A of the Constitution that directly dealt with reservation in positions of municipality.

Just recently, veteran Congress leader, Margeret Alva also questioned the Centre to bring women’s reservation in Parliament. The bill that has been passed by the Rajya Sabha is awaiting approval in the Lok Sabha but has not got the green signal in the last two years of BJP winning the polls. It was one of the electoral promises of the elected party on the Centre but remains unfulfilled as of now.

Picture credit- CM Nagaland