Indian MPs suspended over women's quota protest

The government attempted to introduce the legislation on Monday, International Women's Day, sparking uproar in the upper chamber — normally a quieter place than the raucous lower house. The Speaker, Hamid Ansari, ordered the suspensions after members tore up the bill, which would reserve a third of seats in the parliament and state assemblies for women, then hurled the scraps of paper at him and tweaked his microphone. “I order the suspension of seven members of parliament for the entire session on charges of unruly behavior,” announced Ansari, who is also India's vice president.

The suspended members are from regional socialist parties that oppose the legislation because it does not include provisions to reserve seats for low-caste or Muslim women. Attempts to pass the law, first introduced in 1996, have been blocked by various political groups on similar grounds.

The ruling Congress party, which has the public backing of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was locked in negotiations on Tuesday to pass a bill it had been confident of getting through.

The issue has become a potential embarrassment for Congress and its president, Sonia Gandhi, who has publicly associated herself with it.

“We are working very hard to get the bill accepted,” senior Congress leader Pawan Ghatwar told AFP. “Leaders of the Congress are discussing every detail with other party leaders and want the bill to be passed soon.”

Premier Manmohan Singh and several senior politicians apologized to Ansari on Tuesday, voicing regret at the incident and at repeated adjournments forced by the unruly behavior. Women now occupy about one in 10 seats in both houses.

Because the bill involves a constitutional change, it needs the approval of two-thirds of legislators in the upper house before going before the elected lower house.

Panchayats — local governing bodies in towns and villages — already reserve a portion of their seats for women, which experts say has given women greater status in their communities.

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