Women underrepresented: Main political parties fail to field female candidates in Assembly election
The discrimination against women in nomination as candidates by leading parties persists. In Faridabad and Palwal’s 9 segments, women’s representation remains abysmally low since 1967.
The Congress has given ticket to four women six times, while BJP has fielded one woman three times. INLD has done better, giving ticket to three women between 2009 and 2019. BSP has allotted a ticket to only one woman.
Other parties that have given ticket to women include HVP (now defunct) and AAP, which fielded women candidates in 1991 and 2019, respectively.
INLD fielded Jagjit Pannu from NIT in 2019, Shashi Bala Tewatia from Prithla in 2009, and Rani Devi from Hathin in 2019. AAP, which fielded a female candidate in 2019, has given ticket to male candidates this time from all six Faridabad district segments.
The Congress has fielded women candidates in the region for 58 years, including Sharda Rani, Daya Rani Chaudhary, Sharda Rathore, and Parag Sharma. Sharda Rani received ticket three times (1968, 1972, and 1986) and served as Cabinet Minister. Daya Rani failed to get elected in 1996 from Hathin. Sharda Rathore won as MLA from Ballabhgarh in 2005 and 2009 but is now contesting independently.
Seema Trikha, former MLA from Badkhal, received ticket three times (2009, 2014, and 2019) and won twice. However, the party replaced her with a male candidate in 2024.
Devinder Singh Surjewala, a political analyst, claims poor lobbying or connections led to women candidates being denied ticket. He adds that 33% reservation for women in assembly polls seems elusive.
Dr Naveen Rohilla and Savita Kundu criticise the trend of avoiding women candidates, stating it undermines equality and reservation claims.
