Congress president Rahul Gandhi urged Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to pass a resolution calling on the Central Government to enact the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill in the upcoming winter session of Parliament.

Underlining the party’s commitment to the Women’s Reservation Bill, which is pending in Parliament, Gandhi said that the legislative assemblies in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have already passed similar resolutions.

While Odisha has a government led by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of Naveen Patnaik, Andhra Pradesh is governed by the N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telanagana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).

“In order to affirm our support to the passage of the Bill, it would be expedient for the State Assembly to pass a resolution calling for the reservation of one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies for women, in the next session,” Gandhi wrote in his letter to the CM of Punjab, one of the only two states where the Congress has a non-alliance government.

Gandhi informed Singh that Sushmita Dev, the president of Mahila Congress, has written to all Congress-led State governments in this regard.

In his letter Gandhi pointed out that India ranks 148th out of 193 countries in terms of the percentage of women in our Parliament, and that the situation is even worse in the State Assemblies.

“I urge you to do the needful and state our commitment towards women’s empowerment,” the 48-year-old told Singh.

Underlining the need for the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill, Gandhi said that though Indian women have made rapid strides in all spheres, they continue to be severely underrepresented in our Parliament and State Assemblies.

“True empowerment entails that adequate number of women are represented in our legislative bodies,” he said in his letter.

He said that the Congress and several parties have called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill.

“While the opponents of the Bill have cast doubts on the ability of women to effect change, the leadership role taken on by women after the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments have proved the detractors wrong,” wrote Gandhi.

The Constitution 108th Amendment Bill, also known as the Women’s Reservation Bill, was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 during the UPA-II era. The Lok Sabha, however, never passed the Bill leading to it getting lapsed in 2014 following the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.