Giving More Tickets To Women: More Talk Less Action By Parties

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Political parties wax eloquently about women’s rights, but when it comes to giving tickets in the assembly elections, they fail to walk the talk. This time, with the passing of the Women’s Bill in Parliament, many had expected that more women would be given tickets. However, so far, both Congress and BJP have disappointed the women.

The BJP has declared 136 candidates out of 230 assembly seats and only 22 candidates are women. This has left many women leaders of BJP Mahila Morcha disheartened. A senior worker of BJP Mahila Morcha said that in ticket distribution, party should recognise the sacrifices women leaders make while working for the party.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Uma Bharti has thrown a challenge to the BJP leadership by tweeting, “After the last list (of candidates) we will analyse how many backward class women were given ticket. My demand for reservation for backward class women will stand vindicated.”

Congress has declared 144 candidates and of them, only 19 are women. BSP has so far declared 78 candidates and of them, five are women. Gondwana Gantantra Party, which is fighting the election in alliance with BSP, released a list of 15 candidates on Tuesday and only four are women candidates.

Explaining why parties shy away from giving tickets to women, assistant professor Anita Chaudhary said that politics is a male-dominated bastion and women are hesitant to join politics due to various reservations. Women should be motivated to join politics and be part of the decision-making process. On reserved seats, it is seen that women whose husbands or other members of the family are in politics contest elections. There is a need for women to be more active in politics and stake their claim for tickets in a forceful manner and only then would political parties change their stance.”

She added that it is seen that women from reputed families also don’t come into politics due to different dogmas. Political parties need to work for women's empowerment by promoting women into electoral politics.