Parties must give 33 per cent tickets to women: Lekhi

Making a strong pitch for giving more space to women in political parties, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi today suggested that the national and regional outfits must reserve 33 per cent of their assembly or general poll tickets for female candidates.
"I think reservation for women, who do not tow the line men demarcate for them, is my way of empowering women. That leadership can only be thrown up when we give 33 per cent reservation in the form of electoral reforms," Lekhi said.
"For any party to be recognised as a national or regional party, it must give 33 per cent tickets to women," she said.

Lekhi made the remarks while responding to a query on women reservation during a panel discussion on 'Empowering Women through Skills and Economic Independence' at Kamla Nehru College here.
The MP also said that women candidates should be "meritorious" and "competent" to don the role of a parliamentarian or a Legislative Assembly member.
The event was attended by Premier of Canadian Province of Ontario Kathleen Wynne, Sri Lankan Minister Chandrani Bandara Jayasinghe and Canada's High Commissioner to India Nadir Patel.
Naheed Farid, Chhaya Sharma (Pant) and Maiza Hameed - parliamentarians from Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan, respectively, also took part in the panel discussion.