NEW DELHI: Among 4,666 MPs/MLAs across the country, only 464 or 10% are women, highlights a report on ‘Women’s political participation and representation in India” released by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) to mark International Women’s Day on Sunday.The analysis by ADR and National Election Watch (NEW) shows that among the 543 MPs in the 18th Lok Sabha, 74 (14%) are women. As many as 22 states and UTs have women MPs. The only large state without a woman MP is Kerala.West Bengal has the highest number of women MPs (11), followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra (7 each), and Madhya Pradesh (6).Among parties, BJP has the highest number of women MPs (31), followed by Congress (13), and Trinamool Congress (11). The analysis reveals that only national parties and state parties managed to get their women candidates elected. No woman candidate from any unrecognised political party or independent woman candidate won the election.Out of the 4,123 MLAs across the country, 390 (9%) are women. Among state and UT assemblies, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of women MLAs (47), followed by West Bengal (40), Bihar (29) and Madhya Pradesh (27). BJP has the highest number of women MLAs (163), followed by Congress (59) and Trinamool Congress (34).On the status of women’s participation in politics in India, the report highlights that over the decades, the number of women contesting elections has seen a remarkable rise. In the 1957 Lok Sabha polls, there were only 45 women candidates. During the 18th Lok Sabha elections, this number had soared to 800, demonstrating an increasing willingness and opportunity for women to participate as political candidates.Also, women’s representation in legislative bodies has gradually improved. In the Lok Sabha, the number of women representatives was 22 (5%) in 1951, which increased to 74 (14%) in 2024.At the local level, women hold a more significant share of seats. In 2022, women comprised 44% of representatives in local self-govt institutions, with a total of 1,375,914 representatives.The Women’s Reservation Bill 2023, referred to as ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, was passed in Sept 2023. It mandates 33% (one-third) reservation for women in Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies and the Delhi Assembly. However, its implementation is slated after the census and delimitation exercise. In this backdrop, the report asserts that “the timely conduct of the census planned in 2026-27 is crucial to implementing this bill by 2029.”
