Uttar Pradesh figures in the third and fourth position for women MPs and legislators, respectively in the report which analysed 51,143 candidates, who contested various elections across the country, and found that only 4,865 (or 9.51%) out of them were women

Chhattisgarh tops the chart for the highest percentage of women legislators while West Bengal occupies the number one position for having the maximum number of women Members of Parliament (MP), according to a study conducted by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Uttar Pradesh figures in the third and fourth position for women MPs and legislators, respectively in the report which analysed 51,143 candidates, who contested various elections across the country, and found that only 4,865 (or 9.51%) out of them were women: A far cry from the demand to give 33% representation to women in political parties and government. The report, however, stated that there had been a marginal rise in the number of women lawmakers from the past three Lok Sabha elections.

Among the 4,173 women candidates, 546 (13%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves, the ADR report said. Out of the 4,173 women candidates analyzed, 1060 (25%) are crorepatis, the report added.

“While the number of candidates in the last three parliamentary elections has increased remarkably from 2004 to 2014, the corresponding increase in the number of women candidates has remained nominal,” said Sanjay Singh, the state coordinator of UP Election Watch, an affiliate of ADR. Among the state assemblies, none of the states had more than 10% of women candidates in the elections. States such as Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, and Chhattisgarh had the highest percentage of women candidates in their respective assembly elections, he said.

Political parties continue to espouse that they support the demand to give more and better representation to women in every sphere of decision making and governance.

“On each and every level of our organisational setup, the BJP has made sure that at least one third (33%) of them are women,” said BJP leader Amit Puri. He said this was also evident wherever the BJP was in power and in all important government positions.

Samajwadi Party (SP) spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said, “Women roughly constitute half of the population, but their representation is not adequate in politics and decision-making institutions. Our party has always promoted women.”

He said three of the nine candidates so far declared by SP were women. He said his party was in favour of the Women’s Reservation Bill but wanted special provisions to include women from the marginalized and backward sections.

FIGURES AT A GLANCE

Out of total 4,865 MPs/MLAs analysed from across the country, only 440 (9%) are women, according to the ADR report.

*Among these 94 (21%) MPs/MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves, the report said.

* Out of the 440 MPs/MLAs analysed, 310 (70%) are crorepatis, the report added.

*Among MPs, the Lok Sabha has 66 (12%) women out of 542 members analysed and Rajya Sabha has 25 (11%) women out of 228 MPs analysed, the report said.

* Among the state assemblies, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal have the highest percentage of women MLAs, the report said.

MPS/ MLAS WITH CASES RELATED TO CRIME AGAINST WOMEN

Out of 1642(34%) MPs/ MLAs analysed with declared criminal cases, 52 have declared cases related to crimes against women, according to the ADR report.

Among these 52 MPs/MLAs with declared cases related to crimes against women, 45 are MLAs and 3 are MPs, the report said.

480 candidates analysed who had declared cases related to crimes against women, were given tickets by recognized political parties, the report added.

125 independent candidates analysed with declared cases related to crimes against women had contested Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha and state assembly elections in the last five years, the report said.

Among these candidates, 58 were given tickets by parties for Lok Sabha / Rajya Sabha elections. Various recognised parties have given tickets for state assemblies’ elections to 422 candidates with cases related to crimes against women, the report said.

In the last five years, 18 independent candidates with declared cases related to crimes against women contested the Lok Sabha/ Rajya Sabha elections. Similarly, 107 independent candidates with declared cases related to crimes against women contested the state assemblies’ elections.

Among the states, Maharashtra has the highest number of MPs/ MLAs i.e. 11, followed by West Bengal with 10, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh each with five MPs/MLAs who have declared cases related to crimes against women.

Among the major parties in the last five years, 54 candidates with declared cases related to crimes against women were given tickets by BJP. The second highest number of candidates, 37, who had declared cases related to crimes against women were given tickets by BSP, followed by 30 candidates from INC who had declared cases related to crimes against women who had contested for Lok/Rajya Sabha and state assemblies elections in the last five years.

In the last five years, recognized parties have given tickets to 44 candidates who had declared cases related to rape.