Nagpur: In nearly five-decade-old history of electoral politics in Vidarbha, only six women - five of them from Congress - have made it to the Lok Sabha from the region, which had 11 seats till 2004 polls.
The sixth woman to enter the Lower House of Parliament was from Shiv Sena, while the BJP, a dominant political force in the region in East Maharashtra, has drawn a blank on this front all these years.
Congress' Anusayabai Kale was the first woman to represent Nagpur, the main city of Vidarbha, in Lok Sabha way back in 1957. Nagpur was then part of Central Province and Berar in old Madhya Pradesh.
Usha Choudhary twice represented Amravati - in 1980 and 1984 - while Pratibha Patil, now President of India, had won from Amravati in 1991.
Chitralekha Bhosale, wife of former Congress MP and member of erstwhile royal family of Nagpur, Tejsinghrao Bhosale, was elected from Ramtek in 1998.
Prabha Rau, a former president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) who is currently Himachal Pradesh Governor, won in 1999 from Wardha.
Bhawana Gawali of Shiv Sena won twice from Washim in west Vidarbha - in 1999 and 2004. She is the lone woman MP from the saffron party in the Lok Sabha.
Congress nominee Kale had polled 1,05,019 votes to defeat noted Dalit leader Haridas Awale, a candidate of the Schedule Caste Federation (64,851 votes) in 1957. The Federation later became Republican Party of India (RPI).
Tai Kannamwar, widow of second Chief Minister of newly created Maharashtra Marotrao Kannamwar, tried her luck in electoral politics in 1967 from Chandrapur but lost to KM Kaushik (1,48,775 votes). She had got 1,30,732 votes. Choudhary won two times in a row - 1980 and 1984. The first time she defeated Kamaltai Gavai, wife of veteran RPI leader RS Gavai (86,286), polling 2,56,916 votes.
In 1984, Choudhary (2,17,094) overcame the challenge of Sharad Tasre of Congress (S) (96,164). She, however, failed to make a hat-trick from Amravati in 1989, losing to CPM nominee Sudam Deshmukh (2,79,691 votes).
Patil fought Lok Sabha polls only once from Amravati and emerged victorious in 1991. She bagged 1,77,265 votes to defeat Prakash Bharsakade (1,21,784) and became the third woman to enter the Lower House from Vidarbha since 1957.
Former Nagpur Mayor Kunda Vijaykar (2,32,045) of Congress lost to BJP's Banwarilal Purohit (3,53,547) in 1996, the only occasion when the BJP has won from the orange city.
Chitralekha Bhosale fought only once from Ramtek which was earlier represented by her husband. She had secured 3,25,885 votes to pip Ashok Gujar of Shiv Sena (2,58,847) in 1998.
