Q1. Given below are two statements, one labelled as
Assertion (A) and the other labelled as Reason (R).
Assertion (A): Reservation of thirty-three percent of seats for women in Parliament and State Legislature does not require any Constitutional amendment.
Reason (R): Political parties contesting elections can allocate thirty-three percent of seats they contest to women candidates without any Constitutional amendment. In the context of the above two statements, which one of the following is correct?
Assertion (A) and the other labelled as Reason (R).
Assertion (A): Reservation of thirty-three percent of seats for women in Parliament and State Legislature does not require any Constitutional amendment.
Reason (R): Political parties contesting elections can allocate thirty-three percent of seats they contest to women candidates without any Constitutional amendment. In the context of the above two statements, which one of the following is correct?
Explanation
Assertion (A) is false: The reservation of 33% seats for women in Parliament and State Assemblies does require a constitutional amendment. Recently, the 106th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2019 was made, which provides for 33% reservation of seats for women in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies (alongwith UTs with legislative assemblies). Reason (R) is true: Political parties can independently decide to allocate a certain percentage of tickets to women candidates and this is separate from constitutional reservation.