Lok Sabha polls: Of 419 candidates named by BJP so far, 16% are women
To be sure, the BJP has fielded more women candidates in every election since 2014, when women made up only around 9% of its candidates (38 of 428)
There are 67 women among the 419 candidates for the upcoming Lok Saha polls announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) so far. At 16%, the number is higher than the 12% of women candidates the party fielded in 2019 (53 of 437), but it is lower than the 33% mentioned in the Women’s Reservation Bill, 2023 that the party steered through Parliament last year.
The 67 number may increase marginally (as may the proportion), since the party is yet to announce names for about 20-30 seats, but party leaders admitted that it will take a few more years to identify and train women to take the proportion higher.
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To be sure, the BJP has fielded more women candidates in every election since 2014, when women made up only around 9% of its candidates (38 of 428). That number was a drop from 2009, when women accounted for 10% of its candidates (44 of 433). There’s no clear trend in the outcomes, though: in 2019, 71% of the women candidates fielded by the BJP won, roughly the same as men; but in 2014, 78.95% did, much higher than the proportion of men that did.
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 six women (28%), of which 83% won. But in absolute terms, given its sweeping success across India, the BJP sent most women to the 17th Lok Sabha.
“The process of training women leaders is underway, but it will be a long-drawn process. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing for women-led development and their empowerment, which includes giving them political representation as well,” said a party leader who asked not to be named.
The leader, part of the PM-led central election committee, which takes a call on deciding the candidates, said that on several occasions, Modi nudged the state units to send the names of more women candidates. “In 2009, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, he introduced the bill to increase reservation for women in panchayats and urban local bodies from 33 to 50%. The long-pending women reservation bill was passed in Parliament last year. He walks the talk on women led development and their empowerment.”
Women are one of the key constituencies that the BJP has nurtured since coming to power at the centre in 2014. As per the election commission 470 million women are listed as voters for the upcoming polls. The government’s claims of being committed to their welfare are based on women-centric schemes, such as Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandhana Yojna and the recently announced interventions such as the Lakhpati Didi scheme that is aimed at helping women entrepreneurs, and the Drone Didi scheme for training women to become drone pilots for agricultural purposes.
The party is however aware that nothing can burnish its credentials as a women-friendly party as political representation can.
Party leaders claims that over the years there has been a conscious effort to draw more women to electoral politics.
The representation of women in Parliament itself has risen over the years. In 1957 there were 22 women elected to Parliament of the 45 who contested. Over the next few elections, it hovered between 20 to 30, rising to 43 in 1984.
“While it is true that many women in politics, in most of the parties, including ours come from political families , there are many examples of women who have come from disadvantaged groups and sections of society. Some of them are from what are known as atipichda varg (most backward castes),” said a second BJP functionary.
The elevation of President Droupadi Murmu, from a party worker to the highest Constitutional Office, the leader said, is a shining example of the BJP’s commitment towards women. “That one example is the biggest draw for women from poor and backward families to consider stepping into a male bastion,” the second person said, asking not to be named.
He cited the example of Rekha Patra who is the party candidate from Basirhat in West Bengal and a victim of the violence in Sandeshkhali. “The PM called her Shakti Swaroopa (embodiment of power) and now she represents the poor and voiceless women in Bengal and elsewhere,” he said.
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But candidates such as Patra are too few and far between. “It is for this reason that the Mahila Morcha has been focussing on identifying women leaders who do not come from privilege. There are villages where women in politics are looked down upon, even years after their presence at the Panchayat level. In some places men still rule by proxy...but we are striving to change that,” said a senior functionary of the party’s women’s wing.
Among the 67 candidates named so far, a sizeable number come from political families, including Bansuri Swaraj from New Delhi, daughter of late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj; D. Purandeswari from Rajahmundry, state unit president of Andhra Pradesh, a former minister in the UPA and daughter of the late N.T. Rama Rao ; and Kriti Singh Debbarma, sister of Tipra Motha Party founder Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma.