Mumbai: The number of people contesting Maharashtra’s Lok Sabha election has increased to 1,121 from 879 in 2019. Out of 1121 contestants, only 111 are women. Women politicians said that there are multiple reasons for lack of representation of female contestants in Lok Sabha elections. Maharashtra Legislative Council deputy chairperson Neelam Gorhe said that the women are not coming to electoral politics due to character assassination and violence. In addition to this, there is also a tendency to not give tickets to women due to the patriarchal mindset, she said.
According to the data provided by Maharashtra Chief Electoral Office (CEO), 1,121 candidates are in fray on 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Of these, 111 are female and one is third gender. "In 2019, only 80 women were in the fray or 9.23 per cent of the total candidates. This year, 111 women are in the fray, which is 9.90 per cent of the total candidates," the official said.
Ms Gorhe, who is also Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena leader, said, "There is also politics of exclusion in electoral democracy. The political parties give “weak seats” to female candidates for tokenism.. There are several impediments on the path of political empowerment of women such as character assassination. As a result, women do social work rather than joining electoral politics."
Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad, who is contesting from the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency, said the women reservation bill should have been implemented with immediate effect to change the situation.
"If Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have implemented the women reservation bill with effect from this Lok Sabha election, the situation would have been different. I think unless the women reservation is not implemented in the country. Things will not change," Ms Gaikwad said.
In the first phase of the election, 97 candidates were in the fray in five Lok Sabha seats. Out of these, seven are women. Out of 204 candidates contesting for eight seats, only 21 are women. In the third phase of election, 258 candidates including 21 women, are in the race for 11 Lok Sabha seats. In the fourth phase of election, 298 candidates including 23 women, are in the fray for 11 Lok Sabha seats. Remaining 13 seats from Maharashtra will go to polls on Monday. Out of 264 candidates, 39 are women.
