Women Contested Record Number Of Lok Sabha Seats In 2024, Yet Gender Equality A Far Cry

The year 2024 brought in major political shifts in many countries across the world and India was no exception with the general election and several state assembly elections reshaping leadership. The Lok Sabha election saw a promising 797 women contest 390 seats -- the highest since 1957-- according to a recent report by the Election Commission of India. Women contested only 37 seats in the second general election in 1957. Notably, in the previous general election in 2019, women contested 372 seats. 

While the growing number of women contesting elections is encouraging, India still grapples with a gender imbalance in political leadership. Women made up less than 10% of the 8,360 candidates conesting the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Although the female voter count continues to show an enthusiastic surge, with about 48.9% of all voters being women, the presence of female candidates remains dismally low. 

Lok Sabha 2024 Elections: How Women Fared

While all eyes were on the implementation of the Women's Reservation Bill, promising 33% of Lok Sabha and State Assembly seats for women, political analysts and activists have pointed out the inefficiency of parties in fielding more women. The general elections spotlighted women through targeted campaigns and schemes; however, when it came to candidacy, this enthusiasm was dimmed. 

In 2024, 188 parties out of 749 fielded female candidates. Although the number of female candidates has risen from 726 five years ago, the percentage of women among the total candidates showed only a marginal improvement. 

The BJP, Congress, and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) account for the biggest number of women candidates, with about 13.8% share of the women overall. Over 30 women candidates have won from their respective constituencies till now. The number of women winners has come down from the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when 78 women candidates had won.

Tripura East's Kriti Devi Debbarman of the BJP had the highest victory margin among women winners, with a vote share of 68.54%. This was followed by another BJP candidate, Lata Wankhede from the Sagar constituency in Madhya Pradesh with a vote share of 68.51%. Selja Kumari of Congress won Haryana's Sirsa Lok Sabha seat by over 2.5 lakh votes.

Some of the most prominent candidates who secured wins are BJP's Kangana Ranaut who won Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, BJP's Hema Malini who won Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, DMK leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi who won Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu, Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav who won Mainpuri, and more.

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Meanwhile, some promising candidates also suffered defeats. These include Bahujan Samaj Party's Mayawati, and BJP leaders Smriti Irani and Maneka Gandhi who lost the Amethi and Sultanpur seats respectively. Despite this, Irani, who was defeated by a huge margin of over 1.5 lakh votes, expressed confidence and gratitude for her supporters.

2024 State Assembly: Case Studies On Gender Imbalance

In 2024, eight states conducted assembly polls with most reporting a growing number of female vote count. As more women stepped out to exercise their franchise, it showed how they are increasingly becoming active decision-makers and participants in the nation's leadership. Some states also showed increasing number of women claiming seats in the assemblies, yet the gender representation in these lawmaking spaces remain skewed. While many voters are investing faith in female leadership, parties are yet to prioritise gender parity in candidate nomination.

Here are some of the states which had state assembly elections in 2024, where this gender imbalance was evident.

Arunachal Pradesh

For the 60-member State Assembly, eight women contested the elections in April 2024. In a remarkable victory, 50% of the female candidates, that is four members, secured a victory. All the winners are from the BJP, and three of the winners are kins of prominent lawmakers in the State. 

Since the inception of assembly elections in 1978, a total of 17 women have held positions as representatives. The winners are Dasanglu Pul of the Hayuliang constituency, Tsering Lhamu of the Lumla seat, Chakat Aboh in Khonsa West, and newcomer  Nyabi Jini Dirchi elected for the Basar seat. 

Jammu & Kashmir 

The Jammu and Kashmir 2024 elections reflected a stark gender imbalance in political leadership. While women made up the majority of the voters, not even half of the candidates were female. Out of the 873 candidates contesting the polls, only 43 were women, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms. A total of 40 constituencies saw more women casting votes than men across the union territory, data issued by the Election Commission of India on October 3 showed.

Jharkhand

Jharkhand made history as 12 women were elected Ministers in the Legislative Assembly in the November 2024 State elections, the highest the state has ever had. Of these, Nisat Alam from Pakur, Purnima Sahu from Jamshedpur (East), and Shwettaa Singh from Bokaro were debutantes. Notably, the state also saw a historic increase in voter count, with 37 of the 43 constituencies reporting women voters outnumbering men, according to the data released by the State Election Commission.

Women-Centric Politics Doesn't Only Mean Schemes And Policies

Several States in India are witnessing a surge in women voters and political parties are banking on this with a systemised array of promises and schemes pivoting on women's empowerment. The parties put a focus on grassroots-level campaigning, providing necessities to less-privileged households with women. 

These included promises for subsidised cooking gas and ration, annual allowance for girl children, monthly aid for households led by women, pensions for women senior citizens, reservations for women in government jobs, smartphones for women, gold from brides, and more. The parties also held all-women rallies and campaigns.

However, it is time that parties also field more women candidates for elections to give equitable representation to women candidates. The proportion of female representatives has to be elevated to balance it with the surge of female voters to ensure that the voters feel seen and heard in India's crucial political landscape. 

Views expressed by the author are their own