Women lawmakers down from 78 to 74

Neeraj Mohan

New Delhi, June 6

Having nearly 50 per cent share in population, the strength of women MPs in the newly elected 543-member Lok Sabha has declined to 74 from 78 in the previous House, a fall of 13.62 per cent.

According to the Election Commission data, a total 797 women contested the election but only 74 of them emerged victorious. West Bengal, which has the only woman Chief Minister in the country, elected the highest 11 women MPs, all of them from the Trinamool Congress.

Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, having 80 and 48 seats, respectively, have elected seven women MPs. Several states, including Kerala, Goa, Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland, which together have 31 seats, did not elect any woman MP.

States like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal and Uttarakhand and even the National Capital of Delhi have elected one woman MP each of the total 39 seats in these states. The BJP had fielded 69 women candidates, but only 31 of them won. The Congress has 14 women MPs, Trinamool 11, Samajwadi Party five, DMK three and the JD(U) and the LJP(R) two each. The SAD, TDP, YSRCP, RJD, JMM and Apna Dal have one woman MP each.