Delhi politics is no-woman’s land

When it comes to debating on reserving 33 per cent of seats for women, no political party—be it the Congress or BJP— wants to be left behind, reports Moushumi Das Gupta.

When it comes to debating on reserving 33 per cent of seats for women, no political party—be it the Congress or BJP— wants to be left behind.

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But when it comes to implementing the policy, both still have a long way to go—not only nationally but also in the Capital. In the 2003 General polls, of Delhi’s seven Parliamentary seats, only one seat had a woman MP—Congress's Krishna Tirath from Karol Bagh, a reserved seat.

This time around too, it doesn’t look like either the Congress or BJP would put more than one woman candidate in the fray from Delhi. Not many women contenders are vying for tickets. While from BJP, former mayor Meera Kanwaria and former MP Anita Arya are contenders from the North-West Parliamentary seat; from the Congress, sitting MP Krishna Tirath is a contender from Karol Bagh. Though the name of Bollywood star Hema Malini is doing the rounds for the BJP ticket from New Delhi, it’s not likely she would get the ticket. It's the same case for Congress's Alka Lamba, vying for a ticket from west Delhi.