BSP supports 33% quota for women in LS, assemblies: Mayawati

Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday said that her stand on women’s reservation, which was to support reserving 33% seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, still exists.

In her post on X, she said, “The party’s stand that I put forward in the media on April 15, 2026, and which was also posted on X afterward, remains the same,” and added that further statements will be given if needed.

She further said that she had to clarify this before leaving for Delhi on Wednesday so that the party workers do not get misled and hold any ‘dharna’ (sit-ins) and demonstrations regarding women’s reservation, which, she added, the party discipline does not allow.

Mayawati, on April 15, had “welcomed” that central govt was taking the process to give 33% reservation to women in Parliament and state assemblies forward though the move was “delayed”.

“Getting something, even if little, is always better than getting nothing,” said the BSP chief, while adding that it would have been better if the women’s reservation bill also had a provision for a separate quota for women from SC, ST and OBC communities, “which is not part of the bill right now.”

On Wednesday, she said that she sticks to her stand.

In other directions issued to the party functionaries in UP, the BSP chief asked them to keep holding cadre meetings to strengthen the party’s mass base and financial standing and as part of the party’s preparations for the 2027 assembly elections. The party’s stand on women’s reservation will also be conveyed in these meetings.

“It is essential to mention in these meetings the works done by the BSP govt for the development of UP and public welfare, like all the expressways built so far in UP or the airport built in Noida, whose plans and outlines were prepared during the BSP govt,” said Mayawati, adding that most of these and other works would have been completed by her govt had the Congress govt at the Centre, given its casteist mindset, not created the roadblocks.