By IANS,
Kolkata : Voicing his support for the pending women’s reservation bill, outgoing Lok Sabha Speaker Somanath Chatterjee Monday said all political parties in India should nominate women candidates to increase female participation in the higher representative organisations.
“I don’t understand why the political parties do not nominate 33 percent women candidates in the election,” Chatterjee said at the Women Achievers Award programme organised by FICCI Ladies Organisation here.
“There is no reason why there should be any discrimination between man and woman. It’s not a charity if we allow women to come forward. They deserve it and they should not be denied equality,” he said.
Criticising the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which has also not nominated enough women representatives in its candidate list for the Lok Sabha polls, Chatterjee said: “Even the party I was affiliated to, they have also not done it.”
He also focused on women’s education and empowerment in the country.
“It’s rightly said our children get the first education from their mother. Thus basic education must be available for them,” Chatterjee said.