With a few days to go for the Rajya Sabha Elections 2022, the political parties have braced themselves up to win the 13 seats which are up for grab in the Upper House. The trumpet of Rajya Sabha elections 2022 has been blown after the announcement of the results of assembly elections 2022 of 5 states. With BJP sweeping four out of five assembly elections, the saffron party is looking to bolster its quantum of members in the Rajya Sabha. On the other hand, the opposition parties are also looking to shoot up their quantum of members in the Rajya Sabha 2022 elections. Amidst the changing dynamics discussions over women's representation in Rajya Sabha has yet again popped up.
Those who are keen to know about the women representation in Rajya Sabha can read further:
Women's representation in Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha has been stressing from the past to allot a quota on the basis of gender for women for the past several years. The bill to reserve 33 percent seats for women in Parliament and state legislatures was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010, however, it was never introduced in the Lok Sabha and therefore it was never implemented or became a rule of law.
As per the online statistical web portal 'statista', in 2020, women occupied more than 10 percent of the seats in the Rajya Sabha of the Parliament of India. However, in the last few years, the involvement of women in the Rajya Sabha saw a gradual decline. The maximum strength of the Rajya Sabha is 245 i.e. there are 245 seats in the Upper House.
For the gradual decline in women's representation in the Rajya Sabha or the Parliament of India, Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi had asked about the status of the women’s quota bill in the just-concluded Parliament session. However, the Government of India reiterated that the issue needed 'deep study' and 'careful consideration on the basis of consensus among all political parties' before they could introduce such a bill. It is pertinent to mention here that when NDA came into power in 2014, then Law Minister Ravi Shankar POrasad was asked in the Parliament whether they intend to introduce the women's representation bill, and to that he had said the same thing.
Interestingly, years have passed and the government's deep study on the women's representation quota is still going on despite of the fact that the Rajya Sabha has already passed it.
Women members of Rajya Sabha
Also Read: Rajya Sabha Election 2022: List of members who are going to retire & nominated candidates
Currently, there are only 29 women who are part of the Rajya Sabha. The Rajya Sabha whose maximum strength is 245 consists of only 29 women. The women members of Rajya Sabha include names like Bollywood actress Jaya Bachchan, RJD's Misha Bharti, Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi, BJP's Roopa Ganguly and more.
Check out Women Rajya Sabha Members here
Coming back to Rajya Sabha Elections 2022, Congress has nominated Jeby Mather from Kerala for the Upper House election, while the BJP has nominated S. Phangnon Konyak from Nagaland for the same.