Kerala Assembly to have 8 women MLAs; no woman member in Opposition

Thiruvananthapuram: The 140-member Kerala Assembly will have just 8 women MLAs, three of them debutants, all representing the Left Democratic Front that returned to power with a massive majority in the state.

The UDF, on the other hand, has no woman representative after the lone woman MLA and minister in the previous government, P K Jayalakshmi, failed to make it to the state assembly this time. She was defeated by CPI(M)'s U R Kelu in Mananthawady constituency by 1,307 votes.

Of a total of 109 women candidates who tried their luck in the May 16 polls, only Aisha Potti, K K Shylaja, Mercykutty Amma, Veena George and U Prathibha Hari of CPI(M), and E S Bijimol, Geetha Gopi and C K Asha of CPI succeeded.

Of them, Aisha Potti, who won with a majority of 42,632 votes from Pathanapuram, Bijimol, who won from Peerumade and Geetha, who retained Nattika segment, are sitting MLAs.

Journalist Veena George, who defeated sitting Congress MLA K Sivadasan Nair in Aranmula, Alappuzha former district panchayat president U Prathibha Hari and C K Asha, who represents Vaikom, are debutants in the assembly.

In the last state assembly, there was one woman member in the ruling side and six women members in the opposition.