Heptullah favours 'dual constituency' system

CAIRO, MAY 28. The only way to ensure entry of more women in Indian politics was through ``dual constituency'' system, the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) president, Dr. Najma Heptullah, said here today.

``The solution lies in the adoption of dual constituency process where political parties field two candidates each, one male and the other a woman, for each constituency,'' she said.

The voters vote for the party and thus choose the two candidates together ensuring an increase in the number of women parliamentarians automatically, she told PTI.

Dr. Heptullah, who was in Cairo to attend the second conference of the European and Mediterranean Parliamentarians, said ``men (male politicians) probably felt threatened at the idea of 33 per cent reservation for women in politics''. ``Men are afraid of their position, if 33 per cent women joined politics then 33 per cent of men will have to make way for them'', she said.

According to Dr. Heptullah India needed a ``political will'' to mark the entry of women in Indian political arena in abundance.

She also favoured providing training to women to groom them to be successful politicians. ``Women have to be well-versed with politics, public speaking and a host of other related areas and this could come when proper training was given to them,'' she said.

``If the dual constituency system was adopted (similar to the one in us presidential vote) the women entering the political scene would get training to fight elections'', the IPU president said.

- PTI

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