Only two women make it to Parliament from Kerala
Of the six women who had been fielded by prominent political parties only two have made it to Parliament.
Of the six women who had been fielded by prominent political parties-- Congress, CPM and BJP for the May 10 polls from Kerala, only two have made it to Parliament.
Both the winners -- P Sathi Devi (Vatakara) and CS Sujata (Mavelikkara) are from the CPM.
While Sathi Devi defeated former state fisheries minister, MT Padma, of the congress by over 1.30 lakh votes, Sujatha's victory against AICC Secretary and sitting MP, Ramesh Chennithala, by over 5868 votes was much sweeter for her party as a Congress bastion had been breached.
Besides Padma, Congress had nominated Padmaja Venugopal, (Mukundapuram) and KA Thulasi (Ottapalam reserved) and both were defeated.
Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of senior Congress leader, K Karunakaran, was defeated by a margin of over 1,08,000 votes. In the worst ever humiliation for the first family of Kerala politics, Padmaja's brother and Kerala Power minister, K Muraleedharan, who contested from the Wadakancherry assembly seat, also had to bite the dust as he lost by over 3000 votes.
KA Thulasi lost to S Ajaykumar of CPM by over 70,000 votes.
BJP had propped up a lone woman candidate, Uma Unni from Manjeri, who also lost.
In the 1999 election, CPM, Congress and BJP had fielded only one woman candidate each. CPM'S AK Premajam, who had been re-elected, was the only successful candidate.