A petition filed in the Supreme Court has sought a landmark directive to mandate political parties across India to implement the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act), thereby ensuring protection and redressal mechanisms for women political workers.
The petitioner, advocate Yogamaya MG, has argued that political parties are covered under the ambit of the POSH Act and must, therefore, comply with its provisions. The petition underscores the absence of grievance redressal mechanisms within political parties, despite the increasing participation of women in political work, particularly at the grassroots level.
Yogamaya had earlier moved the Supreme Court with a similar plea in 2024. While the court granted her liberty to approach the competent authority, her subsequent representation to the Election Commission of India has so far gone unanswered, the petition states.
Filed through advocate Sriram P, the petition lists the Centre, the BJP, the Congress, and other political parties as respondents. It seeks directions from the apex court to enforce compliance with the POSH Act and to constitute internal complaints committees (ICCs) within political parties to address instances of sexual harassment.
“The absence of mechanisms under the POSH framework leaves female political workers exposed to unchecked harassment and exploitation during campaigns and party assignments,” the plea argues, highlighting the lack of any legal remedy under the current framework.
The petition cites findings from global studies by UN Women (2013) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (2016), which show widespread psychological and sexual harassment of women in political spaces. It stresses that the exclusion of political party workers from the protection afforded to other employees lacks any “rationale or intelligible differentia” and violates their fundamental rights.
By emphasizing that party workers fit within the legal definition of “employees” under the POSH Act, the petition seeks to extend the Act’s protections to the political sphere and uphold the spirit of the Supreme Court’s Vishaka judgment, which laid down guidelines for the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace.
