New Delhi: The introduction of the Women’s Reservations Bill in 14th Lok Sabha has prompted more women asking for tickets from major parties this time, but the selection of candidates by the latter reveals that electoral politics in India still remains a male preserve.
Including party Chief Sonia Gandhi, only nine women figure in the list of 90-and odd Lok Sabha candidates announced by the Congress so far and the BJP list of 232 candidates, contains only 21 women.
The Left Front, which has accused both the BJP and the Congress of lacking political will on the women’s reservation bill, has fielded only two women out of 42 candidates in its bastion West Bengal, down from five it had fielded in 2004 elections.
“We received more serious applications this time and recommended nearly 100 names for the Lok Sabha. But the final choice by the leadership is based on many other conside
BJP Mahila Morcha President Kiran Maheshwari thought that though the space for women in politics was expanding, they still encounter resistance. In the 2004 elections, the Congress had given tickets to 45 women candidates as compared to 30 by the BJP. This time, both the mainstream parties are fielding lesser number of candidates. “Apart from big names like Sonia Gandhi, Sushama Swaraj, most women candidates put up by the major parties have been given weak seats and their number in the 15th Lok Sabha is unlikely to go up,” says Political scientist Vandana Dixit. The 13th Lok Sabha had the maximum of 49 women members representing 9.02 percent of the total strength of 543 of the lower House. There were 284 women candidates in the poll, which was held in 1999. The outgoing 14th Lok Sabha had 45 women MPs -- constituting just 8.29 percent of the total law makers elected. They were elected among the 355 women candidates who had contested the 2004 general elections.
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