Haryana Assembly Election: In the Haryana assembly elections, the major parties have fielded only 51 women candidates this time. Whereas in the 2019 elections, 104 women candidates including independents were in the fray. Analysis of the list of candidates shows that the Congress has fielded the highest number of 12 women, followed by the INLD-BSP alliance (11), BJP and AAP (10-10) and the JJP-Azad Samaj Party alliance (8).
Savitri Jindal (74), mother of Kurukshetra BJP MP Naveen Jindal, is contesting as an independent from Hisar against Health Minister Kamal Gupta.
Till now only 87 women have become MLAs
– Data shows that only 87 women have become MLAs in the last 14 assembly elections in the state.
– In the five assembly elections held since 2000, 47 women have become MLAs.
– Only four out of 49 women were elected as MLAs in 2000, 12 in 2005 and 9 in 2009.
– In the year 2014, the highest number of 13 women MLAs were elected in Haryana. In the year 2019, this number decreased to 9.
– Chandravati was the first woman from Haryana region to become MLA from Dadri in the mid-term elections of ‘PEPSU’ in the year 1954.
– The representation of women in the 90-member Assembly was 4.44 per cent in 2000, when four women were elected out of 49 who contested from various political parties.
– The highest number of women, 14.4 per cent, won in 2014, when 13 out of 116 women won. But in 2019, the number fell again and nine out of 104 women (10 per cent) won.
– Haryana is notorious for its skewed sex ratio – last year, 916 females were born per 1,000 males. Political analysts say political parties shy away from giving adequate representation to women because their sole aim is to field candidates with maximum winning chances. It is a paradox that women in rural Haryana play a key role in the economy but do not have decision-making power due to cultural and social factors.
