148 women candidates were fielded by the major parties in the four states, and only 76 of them were elected.
NEW DELHI
Women voters were the most sought after in almost all five states where Assembly elections were held recently, however, the number of women legislators in the new legislatures seems to be much below the 33% mark envisaged by the Women’s Reservation legislation.
Among the four key states where Assembly elections were held last month, Chhattisgarh has elected the highest 21% (total 19 out of 90) women legislators. In Rajasthan, just 10% (total 20) of the newly-elected 200 legislators are women. In Madhya Pradesh, 11% (27) legislators are women in the 230-member Assembly. Telangana, too, will have an 8% representation of women among its 119 new MLAs.
148 women candidates were fielded by the major parties in the four states—MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana—and only 76 of them were elected, according to the results declared on 3 December.
Twenty of the 50 women candidates emerged victorious in Rajasthan, though their strength in the House is marginally going down as compared to the Assembly. Of the winning women candidates, nine each were from the BJP and the Congress and two were Independents.
There were a total of 50 women candidates in the fray this time, 20 fielded by the BJP, 28 by the Congress and two Independents. In 2018, the strength of women legislators in the desert state was 24—about 12%. Interestingly, in Rajasthan Assembly the representation of women has never been more than 15%.
In Madhya Pradesh, 27 women legislators in the new House will mark an improvement over 2018. In the outgoing Assembly that was elected in 2018, 21 legislators were women. In 2013, 30 women candidates were elected as legislators.
The 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly will have the highest percentage of women legislators among the four states. Its strength of 19 women legislators would be higher than 14 in 2018. In Telangana, there are 10 women MLAs which would be 8% of the total strength of 119. In Mizoram, two women MLAs have been elected in a 40-member House.
During the campaign women-centric issues were dominating the agenda with rival parties offering financial assistance ranging from Rs 1,250 per month to Rs 3,000 per month to women.
Sops for women and girls ranged from subsidized cooking gas, free education, scholarships, free bicycles and scooties for meritorious girl students.
In Madhya Pradesh, for instance, the BJP government tried hard to build bridges with women voters by promising a 35% quota for women in government jobs. The raising of monthly allowance from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,250 per month given to women under the Ladli Behna scheme was also an attempt to win over women voters ahead of the November-December Assembly polls.
Women voters constituted a key chunk of voters in 41 districts, out of the state’s total 52, where their population was more than men. There were 18 Assembly seats in the states where the women population was more than men. In all, there are 2.62 crore women voters in the state. The Ladli Behna scheme was launched in June and under the enhanced payout, 1.25 crore women in the state started getting Rs 1,250 per month from October. The outlay for the Ladli Behna scheme is around Rs 19,800 crore.
The Congress had promised financial assistance of Rs 2.51 lakh for girls to take care of rituals from birth celebration to marriage. Free travel in city buses, reservation of 10% seats in engineering colleges for government school girl students and Rs 2 lakh girl toppers in school board exams and widow pension of Rs 1,200 a month was also promised.