NEW DELHI, March 5: After all the hype in Parliament about greater representation for women, they are still in a dismal minority. With almost all the election results out, the tally of women in the 12th Lok Sabha has increased by a mere two to reach 41.The doublespeak of political parties on increasing the number of women in the House was evident when the lists of candidates put up by political parties became public. Of the 4,756 candidates in the fray, only 267 were women.This number, less than half of the 599 women candidates who had contested the last general elections in 1996, also reflected the hollowness of parties' promises. In fact, the tall claims made by parties of every hue in public speeches and in parliamentary debates over the last two years whenever the women's reservation Bill assuring 33 per cent seats for women in State Legislatures and Parliament came up for discussion, stood exposed.But despite the lower number of women candidates this time, they increased their tally in theHouse from 39 to 41, with the BJP having the largest block of 15 women members.The Congress has eight women MPs while the two Left parties, the CPI and CPM have two MPs each. In the capital, two sitting MPs, Sushma Swaraj (BJP) and Meira Kumar of the Congress, are back in the Lok Sabha. Other old-timers include veteran CPI MP Geeta Mukherjee, the mother-daughter duo of Vijayaraje Scindia and Vasundhara Raje, Uma Bharati from Khajuraho, Rita Verma and Sumitra Mahajan.
