In a significant decision to empower women in politics, the Assam government on December 10 decided to amend the Assam Municipal Act, 1956 to provide reservation for women for 10 years to enable their active participation in the decision-making process.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting which also proposed to amend the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Act, 1969 to extend tenure of women reservation to 10 years in direct election to posts of councillors of the corporation.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had publicly announced that seats will be reserved for women candidates in the upcoming civic elections, which is slated to take place in the first half of 2022.
“We are thankful to chief minister Sarma for announcing that seats will be reserved for women candidates in the civic elections. Moreover, he said that in any ward if a woman candidate emerges as a winner that very seat will be reserved for the next 10 years,” Angoorlata Deka, president of Mahila Morcha Assam had said.
