EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 10: After the women's Reservation Bill, that has been passed by the Rajya Sabha, is adopted by the Lok Sabha it has to be sent to 28 state Assemblies for approval. For the adoption of the Bill half of the State Assemblies have to endorse it. As far as the state of Jammu and Kashmir is concerned the Bill, after its adoption by the two Houses of Parliament and receipt of the President of India's assent, it can be applicable to all the states except the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Under the constitutional provision any central piece of legislation gets applicable in the state of Jammu and Kashmir only after the Bill or the central Law is endorsed by the state legislature. For this a Bill has to be tabled in the Assembly and it should receive a two-third support of the members of the House.
As far as endorsement of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is concerned there does not seem any major hurdle. It is so because the ruling alliance can easily secure a two-third majority support for the amendment to the constitution so that Women's reservation bill gets applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The National Conference leadership has already announced its support for the reservation bill. President of the National Conference, Dr Farooq Abdullah, has already said that women deserve equal rights. Its partner, the Congress, has to support the Bill because the party at the national level has authored the bill and extended its full support.
The ruling alliance has the support of the 11 members of the BJP after the NBJP leadership at the national level played a key role in getting the reservation bill adopted in the Rajya Sabha. Panthers Party too will support the Bill. Its working chairman, Harsh Dev Singh, said that "we will support the bill whenever its tabled in the Assembly." The lone CPIM member, M.Y. Tarigami, too is to vote in favour of the Bill after the leftists supported it.
As far as the PDP, which has 21 members in the Assembly, is concerned it has decided to discuss the various clauses of the bill in the Party's legislature body. According to senior PDP leader, Nizam-ud-Din Bhat, "we are for the empowerment of women but we shall first study the shape of the bill when its tabled in the Assembly."
Experts said that with the support of the BJP, the Panthers Party and two independent members besides the CPIM member the ruling alliance will succeeded in mustering the support of about 60 MLAs which is required for the adoption of women reservation Bill. Even if the PDP opposed it would have no impact on the passage of the bill.