Left, Right, Centre’s united front on women candidates: 10%, no more

Senior BJP leader Vinay Katiyar reasoned: “Fielding women candidates is different from fielding winning candidates. We could not find many women with leadership abilities. Then, we had to manage (tickets) among existing MLAs and workers, too.”

He added that BJP has raised the number of women candidates than were fielded in 2002 Assembly elections, and “the number would increase”.

The Sonia Gandhi-led Congress party is, meanwhile, in a slightly better position, though it, too, has not crossed the 10-per cent mark. Of 339 seats candidates announced by the party so far, 30 tickets have been given to women. These include Reena Chaudhary and Sunita Singh (Mohanlalganj and Mahona respectively), senior leader Sanjay Singh’s wife Amita Singh (Amethi), Rani Kannaujiya, more famous for moving around with a pistol, from Siddhaur in Barabanki and Lalti Devi from Azamgarh.

Congress leaders said 20 of the remaining 64 tickets are expected to go to women candidates. Party spokesperson Virendra Madaan reasoned that the Congress is “trying to promote more and women leaders”.

The Samajwadi Party has also not released its complete list, but so far it has given tickets to 39 women of the 384 contestants declared. These include Shadab Fatima (Ghazipur), Kusumlata Singh (Fatehpur), Rani Subhashri Devi (Bhinga in Shrawasti), Geeta Singh (Balrampur), Chirraiya Prajapati (Maudaha in Jhansi) and Rabiya Begum (Varanasi-North).

Party leaders said they do not expect any more tickets for women in the remaining seats.

As for the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, it has fielded only 13 women in 403 contestants announced by the party so far. These include Rajeshwari (Hardoi), Mayapati Prasad (Lakhimpur) and Poornima Verma (Mohanlalganj in Lucknow).

Though party leaders refused to go on record on the issue, sources said they do not expect any more ticket to go to women.

Significantly, even the Left parties have not fielded many women candidates. While the CPI has fielded a lone woman candidate — Shyamvati, from Varanasi — of 16 contestants declared so far, the CPI(M), which has top women leaders like Subhashini Ali and Politburo member Brinda Karat, has not fielded a single woman in 14 seats announced till date.

The CPI(ML), meanwhile, has fielded three women in 35 seats it is contesting. These include Krishna Adhikari (Pilibhit), Sunila (Sitapur) and Premlata (Deoria).

Tahira Hasan, the national vice-president of All India Progressive Women’s Association, the women’s wing of CPI(ML), said none of the mainstream parties seem ready to invite more women leaders on board. “Women candidates can understand many women-related issues better. But the parties prefer to keep them away from the mainstream,” she said.