Rajya Sabha postpones voting on women's bill till Tuesday

(Credit: IANS) The Rajya Sabha on Monday postponed voting on the Women’s Reservation Bill after supporting opposition parties insisted on a debate before it is put to vote.

After repeated disruptions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called a meeting of political parties supporting the bill where the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said the proposed legislation should be discussed and then put to vote.    

The bill seeks to reserve a third of all seats for women in parliament and state assemblies.    The government said it had allotted four hours for the debate on Monday but the disruption by MPs from the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal did not provide a conducive atmosphere for discussion.        

When the house reassembled at 6 p.m. after five adjournments, Vice Chairman P.J. Kurien adjourned it till 11 a.m. Tuesday, when the bill is likely to be taken up for discussion.