New Delhi, Mar 9 (IANS): Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday appointed Kahkashan Parveen, a JD-U member from Bihar, to the panel of Vice Chairman.

The appointment comes after various members of the House urged the Chairman to appoint a female member in the panel on the occasion of International Women's Day.

On Thursday, the Congress' Viplove Thakur had pointed out that there were no women in the Vice-Chairman's panel.

"I have decided to appoint Kahkashan Parveen to the panel of Vice Chairman with effect from April 3 in place of Basawaraj Patil, who is retiring from the House in April," Naidu announced.

Parveen was chairperson of the Women's Commission in Bihar and had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election in 2010 from Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur district and had also served as Mayor of Bhagalpur.

The Rajya Sabha Chairman nominate from amongst the members of the Council a panel of not more than six Vice Chairmen, any one of whom may preside over the Council in the absence of the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman.

Besides Patil, Satyanarayan Jatiya, Tiruchi Siva, T.K. Rangarajan, Bhubaneswar Kalita and Sukhendu Shekhar Ray are the current members of the panel.