Dismal presence of women in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: Despite tall promises made by political parties, presence of women in Lok Sabha has remained a dismal 3.5 per cent to 9.02 per cent of its total strength since it came into being.

The number of women in Lok Sabha has remained between 19 and 49 ever since the first general elections, with the sixth Lok Sabha having the lowest of 19 women and the 13th Lower House has the highest at 49 members.

While most of the parties in their manifestoes have so far promised to ensure more women participation in the political arena, the records tell a different story all together raising concerns among various women's groups.

As far as women's participation in elections was concerned, north-eastern states were far ahead with a massive 75 per cent of women in Sikkim participating in the polls and the state of Jammu and Kashmir scored the lowest with only 29.02 per cent participation of the fairer sex.

Assam had 71, 93,283 women electors, Bihar 23,50,6264, Tamil Nadu 23,98,2970, Madhya Pradesh 18,36,1940 and Delhi 38, 09,550.

The performance of women candidates in the elections, which is the criteria by which political parties decide on women candidates, also shows variations in different states.

While Uttar Pradesh had the maximum number of women contestants at 61, only 7 of them managed to get elected.

Out of 34 women contestants in West Bengal, only four were elected, in Andhra Pradesh 3 out of 21, Haryana just one out of 8 and in Madhya Pradesh three out of 30 candidates were elected.