It is barely 10 months old, it was the month of September last year. A special session was called in the new Parliament. Speculations began that this will happen, that will happen, this will not happen, that will happen. Before the start of the session, a meeting of the Union Cabinet was held. And then news started coming in the media that the government may move towards implementing the Women's Reservation Bill which was stuck for 27 years. On 20 September 2023, this news turned into reality. The bill was passed but the real twist was known on that evening and in the newspapers of the next day.
On that day, only a bill was passed in the name of giving 33 percent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. There was a promise to wait till 2029 for its actual implementation. The question is why? Because the government said that first there will be census and delimitation, only then something will be done in this regard. Anyway, getting something done instead of nothing was no less than an achievement for women.
This achievement would have been given a little more courage if after a year some political parties had taken some initiative in this direction. The parties that were advocating reservation for women in one voice, after all the hue and cry and big talks, this time seemed to be lagging behind in giving tickets to women. Half the population getting 15-20 percent share in ticket distribution is not encouraging at all. The result is that this time fewer women MPs have been elected to the Parliament.
Talking about state-wise performance, the highest number of 11 women candidates have won from West Bengal and all of them are from TMC. This is followed by Maharashtra (7) and Uttar Pradesh (8), Madhya Pradesh (6), Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Odisha (five each). Three each from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, 4 from Gujarat. 2 each from Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Jharkhand. 1 each from Assam, Tripura, Punjab, Himachal, Uttarakhand. 2 from Union Territory Delhi and 1 from Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Meanwhile, Kerala is the only major state where no woman has been elected this time.
More than half of the women MPs are from political families
If it was just this, then there would have been no problem. If we look at the background of these 74 women, then even more shocking information comes to light. Actually, we actually tried to understand what kind of families the women MPs who were elected belong to.
Do they belong to political families or do they come from ordinary backgrounds where they have carved out a political identity on their own. It is important to know this because in the context of Indian politics, it is a big and important fact that people coming from ordinary backgrounds, especially women, get very few opportunities here.
Political parties prefer to give tickets to women who come from a political family, are the wife of a strongman, or have a family member who has already been in politics. In our study, we found that out of the total 74 women MPs who have reached the Parliament this time, more than half, to be precise, 41, belong to political families. Where the brothers, fathers, husbands, father-in-laws and other relatives of these women are actively involved in politics.
Here it should also be made clear that it is not being said about these women MPs that they do not have political talent or skills; rather, through them an attempt is being made to understand the representation of those whose families have no connection with politics or in other words, those who do not have a godfather.
So the answer is that there are 29 women MPs whose identity is non-political. These include doctors, actors, social workers and other professionals. Whereas, 4 women MPs are from royal families. All four of them have reached the Lok Sabha by getting elected on the BJP symbol i.e. lotus.
This was a rough assessment. Now let us understand in detail which political parties bet on women coming from which kind of socio-political background.
1. Background of women MPs elected on BJP ticket
The Bharatiya Janata Party had fielded 45 women candidates in 2009, 38 in 2014 and 55 in 2019. This time, the BJP gave tickets to 69 women candidates out of its 441 candidates.
31 have won in this. In this way, the strike rate of women candidates of Bharatiya Janata Party has been 44.92 percent.
Half of the women MPs of BJP belong to political families.
First – those whose family members are in politics (15)
Nearly half of the 31 female MPs (15) belong to political families. Of these 15, the husbands of 7 MPs, the fathers of 3 and the mother, brother or father-in-law of 5 female MPs are well-known faces in politics.
For example, Bansuri Swaraj, who reached Parliament by winning the election on a BJP ticket from New Delhi seat, is the daughter of Sushma Swaraj. D. Purandeswari, who won the election from Andhra Pradesh's Rajahmundry seat, is the daughter of famous actor and politician N.T. Rama Rao.
Similarly, Raksha Khadse, who scored a hat-trick of victories from Maharashtra's Raver Lok Sabha seat and has now also become a minister at the Centre, is the daughter-in-law of Eknath Khadse, a big name in Maharashtra politics. Similarly, Smita Wagh's husband Uday Wagh, who won the election from Jalgaon in Maharashtra, is the Jalgaon district president of BJP. Annapurva Devi, MP from Jharkhand's Koderma seat, who has been made a Union Minister this time, is the wife of RJD leader and former minister Ramesh Yadav.
If we talk about how many, BJP had given tickets to a total of 6 women in Madhya Pradesh. All of them won. Apart from Savitri Thakur (Dhar), Sandhya Rai (Bhind), all the others - Himadri Singh (Shahdol), Lata Wankhede (Sagar), Anita Chauhan (Ratlam), Bharti Pardhi (Balaghat) have relatives in politics.
Anita Nagar Chauhan's husband Nagar Singh Chauhan is the Forest Minister in the Madhya Pradesh government and has been an MLA thrice. Similarly, Lata Wankhede's husband Nandkishore alias Guddu Wankhede is also active in politics.
Second – BJP MPs with non-political background (12)
A total of 12 women from non-political backgrounds have been elected MPs on BJP tickets. These are the women who made a name for themselves by doing something different in social life and then tried their luck in politics.
For example, 8 out of 12 women entered politics after doing some good work socially. For example, Savitri Thakur, who was elected MP from Dhar seat of Madhya Pradesh, who has also become a minister at the center, her husband is an ordinary farmer, before joining politics she was known as a social worker. Similarly, Sandhya Rai from Bhind seat of Madhya Pradesh started her political journey as a worker in BJP. Her husband is a farmer.
Apart from these 8, 2 women elected from BJP have their own business. One of them is Bijuli Kalita Medhi who won the election from Guwahati in Assam and the other is Nimuben Jayantibhai who was elected MP from Gujarat. Whereas, two have been actors. One of them is Hema Malini, MP from Mathura and the other is Kangana Ranaut who won the Lok Sabha election from Mandi seat of Himachal Pradesh. Ranaut has become an MP for the first time while this is Hema Malini's third term.
Third – Those belonging to the royal family (4)
Out of 31 women of BJP, 4 women belong to royal families.
Mahima Vishwraj Singh belongs to the former royal family of Mewar. On the other hand, Sangeeta Kumar Singh Deo, MP from Bolangir, Odisha, belongs to the former Patnagarh royal family.
Malavika Kheshari Dev is a descendant of the Kalahandi royal family. Her husband Arka Kheshari Dev has been an MP. Apart from her, Mala Rajya Lakshmi of Uttarakhand, who is also known as the Queen of Tehri, also has a royal heritage.
2. Background of women MPs elected on Congress ticket
Congress had fielded 52 women in 2019 while this time the party gave tickets to only 41 women. However, one reason for this could also be that the party was contesting the elections on the lowest number of seats in its history this time. Out of 41 candidates of Congress, 13 won. That is, their success rate was 34 percent.
First – those whose family members are in politics (8)
The condition of Congress is also similar to that of Bharatiya Janata Party. Out of 13 MPs elected on Congress ticket, around (8) belong to political families. Out of these, husbands of 4 and fathers of 4 are well-known names in politics. Be it Varsha Gaikwad who is the daughter of senior Congress leader Eknath Gaikwad or Kadiyam Kavya from Warangal Lok Sabha seat who is the daughter of former Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader Srihari. He had joined Congress along with Kadiyam Kavya.
Jyotsna Mahant, who won from Korba Lok Sabha seat in Chhattisgarh, is the wife of Charandas Mahant. Charandas Mahant is a Congress leader and serves as the Speaker of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly. Prabha Mallikarjun, whose husband is currently handling the Ministry of Mines and Geology in the Karnataka government. The family of Priyanka Jarkiholi, who won from Karnataka's Chikodi seat, has been in politics for the last 3 decades.
Second – Congress MPs with non-political background (5)
Whereas 5 women MPs come from non-political background. Among them, 1 is a doctor, 1 is a social worker, 1 is a lawyer, 1 has her own business and two have made a name in politics on their own strength. Among the women coming from a normal background, female MP Sudha R is a lawyer by profession. Sanjana Jatav is the youngest MP of Congress whose husband is a police constable. Sanjana Jatav won the election from Bharatpur seat of Rajasthan at the age of just 26 years.
Shailaja Kumari has entered politics on her own strength and Bachhav Shobha Dinesh is a doctor by profession. Gujarat's Geniben Thakor, who won the election from Banaskantha, has also reached here on her own strength. She is a firebrand leader of Congress.
Thakor is the only Congress MP in Gujarat due to whom the Congress has been able to open its account in Gujarat after decades. Jothimani Sennimalai is a social worker. She has also worked as the General Secretary and Vice President of the Indian Youth Congress and Tamil Nadu Youth Congress.
3. Background of women MPs elected on TMC ticket
In West Bengal, TMC gave tickets to 12 women. Out of these, 11 won. In this way, the strike rate of women candidates of TMC was 91.6 percent which is the highest.
Out of the 11 women elected as MPs from TMC, 4 (Sayani Ghosh, Shatabdi Roy, Rachana Banerjee and June Malia) are actors. Sharmila Sarkar and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar are doctors.
Mahua Moitra has been an investment banker. Apart from her, Mala Roy, Mitali Baig, Pratima Mondal and Sajda Ahmed are associated with their own political career or as social workers.
4. Background of women MPs elected on SP, DMK tickets
Out of the 10 women fielded by the Samajwadi Party, 5 have won. Thus, the strike rate of SP has been 50 percent. All the 5 belong to a strong and prosperous political family. Be it Dimple Yadav, Krishna Devi Patel, Priya Saroj, Ikra Chaudhary or Ruchi Vira.
Three women have reached the parliament on the ticket of Tamil Nadu party DMK. One woman is a doctor by profession, two come from political families. One is Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi and the other is Sumathi, daughter of another DMK leader. She has PhD in English literature, is a Tamil poet and lyricist and has written dialogues for films.
5. Background of women MPs elected on tickets of other parties
The remaining 11 women who have reached Parliament include 2 each from JDU and LJP (Ram Vilas), 1 each from Sharad Pawar's NCP, Apna Dal Sonelal, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), YSRCP, Shiromani Akali Dal, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Out of these 11 women, 8 belong to political families. While one is known as the wife of a Bahubali, two are doctors. JDU's Lovely Anand is the wife of Anand Mohan, convicted in the famous IS murder case. One of the two doctors is TDP's Byreddy Shabari who has won from Nandyal and the other is DMK's Rani Sri Kumar who has won from Tenkasi Lok Sabha seat reserved for Scheduled Castes.
Women who have benefited from coming from influential families in their political journey include Veena Devi of Lok Janshakti Party in Bihar, who is the wife of Janata Dal United MLC Dinesh Singh, Harsimrat Kaur, wife of Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal, Misa Bharti from RJD and Supriya Sule, daughter of NCP Sharad Pawar.
Conclusion - Representativeness: A comparison with other countries
So this time when the first session of the Parliament begins from June 24, a total of 74 women will be seen in the Lok Sabha, most of whom will be from powerful political families, and among them, those with non-political background will also be seen keeping themselves at par with them.
When the first Lok Sabha elections were held in India in 1952, only 22 women became MPs. Thus, things have improved with time but the pace is very slow. The number of women MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha was 52, which increased to 64 after five years.
The highest number of women MPs (78) ever reached the Lok Sabha in the last Lok Sabha. This was approximately 14.36 percent of the total MPs. After the recent general elections, this has come down to 13.63 percent.
If we compare India with the participation of women in the Parliament of the African country Rwanda (62 percent), the situation looks quite fragile. Whereas India lagging behind even in comparison to South Africa (43 percent), UK (32 percent), America (24 percent) and Bangladesh (21 percent) is also a matter of concern.
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