LS election: 724 women candidates in fray for polls

New Delhi: The fate of 8,049 candidates, including 724 women, in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls will be decided on Thursday when the results are announced.

The Congress had fielded the maximum of 54 women candidates. It was closely followed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had fielded 53 women.

Among the other national parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) fielded 24 women candidates, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) 23, the CPI(M) 10, the CPI four, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) fielded one woman candidate. As many as 222 women contested the polls independently.

A total of 8,049 candidates were in the fray in the parliamentary polls.Four transgender candidates contested the polls independently, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was the only party to field a transgender nominee.

Uttar Pradesh fielded the highest number of women at 104, followed by Maharashtra. Sixty-four women candidates have been fielded from Tamil Nadu, 55 from Bihar and 54 from West Bengal. According to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch, 100 or 15 per cent women candidates declared criminal cases, while 78 or 11 per cent declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Two women candidates declared cases in which they were convicted, four declared cases related to murder, 16 had attempt to murder cases against them.