Assurances on women safety are galore in the national Capital in the run up to the Delhi Assembly polls but when it comes to fielding women candidates, the major parties in the fray have fared poorly. A total of 19 women candidates have been fielded by three major political parties in the contest — BJP, Congress and AAP — in the election for the 70-member House.
BJP has given tickets to maximum number of women candidates for the February 7 polls, including its chief ministerial nominee Kiran Bedi, who is contesting from Krishna Nagar. The party has fielded eight women, including former Union Minister Krishna Tirath from Patel Nagar, former DUSU presidents Rekha Gupta from Shalimar Bagh and Nupur Sharma from high-profile New Delhi constituency, Kiran Vaidya from Trilokpuri, Rajni Abbi from Timarpur, homoeopathy practitioner Nandini Sharma from Malviya Nagar and former South Delhi mayor Sarita Chaudhary from Mehrauli.
Close to BJP is the Aam Aadmi Party, which has fielded six women candidates, including Rakhi Birla, Bandana Kumari, Saritha Singh, Alka lamba, Pramila Tokas and Bhavna Gaur. While Birla was the Cabinet Minister of Women & Child, Social Welfare and languages in Delhi during AAP’s 49-day regime, Bandana Kumari was elected as an MlA from the Shalimar Bagh constituency in the last polls.
The least number of women candidates have been fielded by the Congress, which has given tickets to just five women contestants. The prominent names in the list include Kiran Walia, who is contesting from New Delhi Assembly seat against Arvind Kejriwal and President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee, who is contesting from Greater Kailash Assembly constituency.
Other women nominees of the Congress include Rita Shokeen, Meenakshi Chandela and municipal councillor Rinku. The number of tickets given to women candidates by the three leading parties is in sharp contrast to population of women voters in Delhi.
According to the electoral rolls, a total of 1.33 crore people are eligible to vote out of which over 72 lakh are men and around 59 lakh are women voters. Out of 673 candidates in the fray, only 66 are women.
In the 2013 Assembly polls in Delhi, Congress and AAP had fielded six women candidates each while from the BJP five women candidates had contested the polls. Parties, however, are claiming that fielding less number of women candidates is not ‘intentional’ and has been done keeping several factors, including ‘winnability’, in mind.