New Delhi: India, which last year passed the Women’s Reservation Act to ensure at least 33% seats for female lawmakers in Parliament, elected only 74 of them to the Lok Sabha in the just-concluded 2024 elections. That makes it 13.63% of the elected strength.
India also lags behind 150 nations in representation of women in Parliament, Hindustan Times reported quoting IPU-Paraline database on national parliament.
Fourteen parties have elected women MPs to the Lok Sabha, of which BJP has topped with 31, followed by Congress (13) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) at 11.
In terms of percentage, TMC is No. 1 with 37.93%, followed by Congress (13.13%) and BJP (12.92%).
Samajwadi Party will send 5 MPs to Lok Sabha, DMK 3, LJPRV and JD(U) 2 each. One woman each from 7 parties got elected.
In the first election since Independence in 1952, India had elected just 22 members to the lower house of Parliament, representing 4.41% of total strength. It increased to 6.2% in 1962, but fell again to 4.22% in 1971 when Indira Gandhi — India’s first and only woman Prime Minister — headed the government. In 1984, women representation rose to 8.17%, fell in succeeding elections before rising to 9.02% in 1999.
In 2019, India elected 78 women members, which was 14.36 per cent of total strength.
Of the 74 women elected in 2024 elections, 43 are first-time MPs, and one — RJD’s Misa Bharti — is a first-time Lok Sabha MP.
The number of women candidates in the 2024 general elections was higher than in previous years, but still only 10% of the total number of 8,360. In 1957, it was only 3%.
While 16% of BJP’s candidates were women, Congress had 13% female candidates.
Among the countries which are ahead of India in women representation in Parliament are South Africa (46%), the UK (35%) and the US (29%).
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