The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has given one-third of its Lok Sabha tickets to women, repeating its 2019 feat of fielding seven women from the 21 Lower House constituencies in the state.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced the candidature of Lekhashree Samanatsinghar, who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) two days ago, for the Balasore Lok Sabha constituency.
The party had already given tickets to six women candidates in 20 of the Lok Sabha seats declared so far – Bargarh, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Koraput and Aska. The party won five of the seven Lok Sabha seats where it has put up women candidates in 2019, losing only Koraput and Sundargarh.
Of the 21 Lok Sabha candidates announced by the party, five were either in the BJP or the Congress in the past. Parineeta Mishra (Bargarh), Lekhashree Samantsinghar (Balasore) and Bhrugu Buxipatra (Berhampur) were with the BJP, and Anshuman Mohanty(Kendrapara) and Surendra Singh Bhoi (Bolangir) with the Congress.
The party has always touted its record of nominating more women as the reason behind the party’s impressive record among female voters.
{{/usCountry}}The party has always touted its record of nominating more women as the reason behind the party’s impressive record among female voters.
{{/usCountry}}“Like his father, chief minister Naveen Patnaik has always cared for the women of the state trying to empower them economically and socially. The continuous focus on women’s welfare by the government has been duly reciprocated in elections after elections,” said BJD leader Bijay Nayak.
On April 9, HT reported that there were 67 women among the 419 candidates for the upcoming Lok Saha polls announced by the BJP till then. At 16%, the number was higher than the 12% women candidates the party fielded in 2019 (53 of 437), but lower than the 33% mentioned in the Women’s Reservation Bill, 2023, that the party steered through Parliament last year.
With 78 women, the 17th Lok Sabha boasted the highest proportion of women lawmakers, although this was still just over 14%. The Congress, which contested 262 seats, fielded 54 women (20%) in 2019, a higher proportion than the BJP, although only 11% of the women it fielded won. The Trinamool Congress, which contested 42 seats, fielded 16 women (38%), of which 56% won; and the BJD, which contested 21 seats, fielded seven women. But in absolute terms, given its sweeping success across India, the BJP sent most women to the 17th Lok Sabha.