No quota, no ticket: Haryana mainstream parties keep women candidates at arm’s length

While the Women’ Reservation Bill 2023 was unanimously passed in the Parliament, and also received the President’s assent last year, it won’t come into effect until 2029 after the next delimitation exercise, based on figures from the next Census, is carried out.

While mainstream parties had wholeheartedly supported the Women’s Reservation Bill for 33% quota to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies when it was tabled, and subsequently passed, in the Parliament last year, they seem to be hesitant when walking the talk on promoting women’s participation in politics and governance.

Women form nearly 46.73% of the electorate in Haryana. (HT File)

While the Women’ Reservation Bill 2023 was unanimously passed in the Parliament, and also received the President’s assent last year, it won’t come into effect until 2029 after the next delimitation exercise, based on figures from the next Census, is carried out.

In Haryana’s case, the numbers say it all: Out of the 223 candidates in fray for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, only 16 (7%) are women. This even as women form nearly 46.73% of the electorate in the state. Out of 16 women contestants in fray, only five have been fielded by mainstream parties. All five women come from politically strong families.

While the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) has fielded two women -- Badhra MLA Naina Chautala from Hisar and Kiran Punia from Ambala, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) have fielded one woman each.

The BJP has fielded Banto Kataria, wife of late Ratan Lal Kataria, a former Union minister, from Ambala reserved. The Congress has reposed faith in four-time Lok Sabha MP Kumari Selja from Sirsa. Selja’s father Chaudhary Dalbir Singh was a former Haryana Congress chief and Union minister. JJP’s Naina Chautala is the wife of former MP Ajay Singh Chautala and her son Dushyant is an MLA in Haryana.

INLD Hisar candidate Sunaina Chautala’s husband Ravi Chautala had contested the assembly elections and Ravi’s grandfather Devi Lal was the deputy prime minister. Kiran Punia is the daughter in-law of former Haryana minister and Dalit leader Kirpa Ram Punia.

11 women were in fray last time

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 11 women candidates (4.9%) of the total 223 candidates had contested the parliamentary polls in Haryana and only BJP’s Sunita Duggal, from the Sirsa reserved seat, had won. This time, the saffron party has replaced her with Congress turncoat Ashok Tanwar. In 2019, the Congress had fielded two women candidates- Kumari Selja from Ambala and Shruti Choudhry from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seat. This time, the party has gone with four-time MLA from Mahendergarh, Rao Dan Singh. The JJP had given ticket to Swati Yadav from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, BJP fielded Sunita Duggal from Sirsa and Raj Kumari Saini’s Loktantra Suraksha party had given tickets to Raj Bala Saini from Sonepat and Shashi Saini from Kurukshetra.

Only 6 women have made to LS in Haryana’s history

So far, Haryana has elected six women to the lower house of the Parliament -- former governor Chandrawati (Bhiwani), Kumari Selja (twice each from Ambala and Sirsa), Kailasho Saini (twice from Kurukshetra), Sudha Yadav (erstwhile Mahendergarh seat), Shruti Choudhry (Bhiwani-Mahendergarh) and Sunita Duggal (Sirsa). Chandrawati was the first woman to get elected from Haryana during the 1977 elections. The constituencies of Rohtak, Hisar, Karnal, Gurugram, Faridabad and Sonepat have not sent a woman leader to the Lok Sabha so far.

The missing women in Haryana politics

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, OP Chautala’s INLD and the Congress fielded one woman each. The BJP-HJC (BL) alliance did not field any woman candidate. In 2009, the INLD-BJP alliance pitched only BJP’s Sudha Yadav from Gurgaon, while the Congress gave the ticket to Selja and Shruti Choudhry from Ambala and Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seats, respectively. In 2004, the BJP fielded Sudha Yadav from Mahendergarh, while Selja (Congress) and Krishna Malik (INLD) were fielded from Ambala and Sonepat. In the 1999 election, the BJP-INLD alliance fielded INLD’s Kailasho Saini from Kurukshetra and Sudha Yadav from Mahendergarh. The Congress had not fielded any woman candidate in 10 seats, while Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) fielded its male candidates on both seats.

Gender inclusivity, a long way to go

All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) vice-president Jagmati Sangwan said while women’s presence has increased in the area of academic, sports, and local governance, and they have also proved their mettle in these fields, parties are not giving them a chance in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

“Parties are restricting women to rallies only; patriarchy is the main reason behind this. Women can do well in governance, but for that, they need to be given an opportunity first,” she added.

Kurukshetra University professor Santosh Dahiya revealed that parties give tickets to women only if they come from politically strong families. In case of men, tickets are given if they can bring funding and have a decent people connect.

“Haryana politics is still dominated by male leaders and since its inception in 1966, no female chief minister has been elected. The BJP, Congress, JJP and INLD all talk about women reservation’s but when it comes to giving women tickets, they take a U-turn,” she added.

JJP candidate from Hisar, Naina Chautala said, “The society is still dominated by men. Women have started coming out of their homes only now. But hopefully, things will improve.”