New Delhi: From 7 per cent in 2009 to 9.6 per cent in 2024, the number of female candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections saw a steady rise in 15 years, according to an analysis by the poll rights body ADR.
This year, 797 women are in the fray, constituting 9.6 per cent of the total 8,337 candidates.
This marks an increase from previous general assembly elections which recorded female representation of 9 per cent in 2019, 8 per cent in 2014, and 7 per cent in 2009, the analysis by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) showed.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, there were 556 female candidates, making up 7 per cent of the total 7,810 candidates.
This number increased to 640 (8 per cent of 8,205) in 2014 and further to 716 (9 per cent of 7,928) in 2019.
This year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leads among the major parties with 69 female Lok Sabha nominees out of 440, making up 16 per cent of its total candidates. The Congress follows with 41 women out of 327 candidates, constituting 13 per cent.
Significantly, smaller parties and regional players exhibit higher proportions of female candidates. For instance, the Naam Tamilar Katchi has an equal gender representation with 20 out of 40 candidates being women, translating to 50 per cent.
The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and the Nationalist Congress Party each have 40 per cent female candidates, with two out of five being women.Among prominent parties, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the All India Forward Bloc have the lowest levels of female representation at 3 per cent.
Some parties with notable female representation in this year’s parliamentary polls include the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), each with 33 per cent, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) with 29 per cent. The Samajwadi Party (SP) has 20 per cent female representation, and the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) 25 per cent.
Thirteen per cent of the Lok Sabha candidates of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) are women and the figure stands at 8 per cent for the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Parties such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) has female representation at 14 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively. The Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) and Shiv Sena each have 13 per cent female candidates, while the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has 33 per cent women nominees. Both candidates of the Apna Dal (Sonelal) are women, TDP and BRS each have 6 per cent female candidates, Shiromani Akali Dal and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar each have 8 per cent female contestants, while Shiv Sena (UBT) has 10 per cent.