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Congress and BJP field just 71 women candidates across India |
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By: Agencies |
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Date:
2008-11-19 |
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Place: New Delhi |
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Who cares for gender equality? Certainly not parties fighting Assembly polls in three states, where the Congress is fielding 717 seats, the BJP 639
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Women not on top: Despite leaders like Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit (centre) and (both not in pic) Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and UP CM Mayawati, women continue to be severely under-represented in Indian politics. file pic | The Congress and the BJP may be on two sides of the political spectrum but are uncannily alike when it comes to giving women representation 71 to be precise. Both parties have fielded 71 women candidates each for polls in six states.
In what can only be an unhappy coincidence for those aspiring for gender equality in politics, the Congress has given 71 women tickets to contest the elections out of its total list of 717; ditto with the BJP that has 71 women contestants from its 639 candidates.
Their reasons for the abysmally low representation of women is also the same.
"In an election, the winnability of the candidate also has to be seen," said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.
As if echoing him, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed added, "We try to give priority to members of the weaker section of the society, but a candidate's winnability has to be kept in mind. We also go by the feedback based on the ground reports."
An upset Amarjeet Kumar, general secretary of the Delhi unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI), said, "Unless constituencies are reserved for women, compelling all political parties to field only women candidates other considerations that stop from women being given the ticket will come up," he said. Ironically, both parties also support the women's reservation bill, which calls for setting aside 33 per cent of the seats in parliament for women.
"In rural constituencies, accessibility and visibility are pitted against women. But it is quite to the contrary in cities. Women are seen as more honest candidates," said Political analyst GVL Narasimha Rao.
On November 5, for instance, the women's wings of the Delhi BJP, Mahila Morcha, protested at the party office about the inadequate representation of women candidates.
While the Congress has a woman president in Sonia Gandhi, the BJP boasts of 33 per cent reservation to women in the party's organisational set up. |
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