Women & political power

Sir, - In the article ``Women and political power'' (TheHindu, May 20), Ms. Gail Omvedt has argued against the ``rotation system of reservation'' proposed in the Women's Bill and has expressed her preference for the alternative proposal that political parties should give one-third of their tickets to women.

This preference is also shared by two other distinguished women - Ms. Maneka Gandhi and Ms. Madhu Kishwar (TheHindu, May 19). But, the fear expressed by Ms. Subhasini Ali that the political parties would selectively allot ``losing seats'' to women is real and merits serious consideration.

In opting for the alternative proposal, Ms. Gail Omvedt appears to be encouraged by the fact that in all the Lok Sabha elections, the percentage of women candidates elected has been higher than that for men - 32.53 per cent for women and 26.5 per cent for men, fielded by recognised parties. These statistics could be misleading because women have been allotted only a limited number of seats on a selective basis, looking to their ``winnability.'' If the number goes up due to reservation, the law of diminishing returns might operate.

In this context, it may be worthwhile repeating the suggestion earlier made in these columns (TheHindu, June 12, 1997) for an arrangement which does not suffer from the shortcomings of ``rotation system of reservation'' and, at the same time, would ensure a higher percentage of reservation for women within the existing strength of the Lok Sabha/State Assemblies.

The suggestion is to double the size of the existing constituencies by merging two adjacent constituencies to form one large constituency which would be represented by one male MP/MLA and one woman MP/MLA. For example Tamil Nadu which has 40 MPs for 40 constituencies would continue to have 40 MPs consisting of 20 male MPs and 20 women MPs for 20 enlarged constituencies. This would ensure 50 per cent reservation for women, which would be consistent with the size of their population.

V. Krishnamachari,

Mumbai

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