In the four election states of the country (MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram), 5,764 candidates are in the fray for a total of 560 seats, out of which only 609 (10%) are women.
Complete figures for 119 seats in Telangana are not available yet. But here also BJP has fielded only 14 women candidates and Congress has fielded only 11 women candidates.
It is clear how low the participation of women is still in the country’s politics. This is the situation when the number of women contesting elections has increased by 152% in 20 years and their success rate has been 4% higher than that of men.
Not only this, in the areas where women were MLAs, the pace of development was up to 15% higher than that of male MLAs.
According to a joint study by the World Bank, Rice University and the University of Manchester, where women’s education levels have improved, 10% more women are four times more likely to contest elections and win.
These results emerged after analyzing the District Primary Education Program (DPEP) which ran between 1993 and 2004. This program was run in 219 districts out of total 593 in the country, because the female literacy rate there was less than the national average of 40%.
For this study, data of 3,473 assemblies of 16 states between 1980 and 2007 was analyzed. About 95% of the country’s population lives in these constituencies.
According to UN University World Institute for Development Economics Research, data of 4,265 assemblies during 4 elections between 1992 and 2012 says that the criminal cases pending against men are almost more than those of women MLAs. There are three times.
According to the report of Transparency International India, 37% people believe that men commit more corruption. 38% people say that bribery will reduce if there are women in responsible positions.
The wealth of women MLAs has increased on an average 10% less every year than that of men. In rural areas with female MLAs, incomplete road projects are up to 22% less than those with male MLAs.
Between 2000 and 2007, only 4 out of 40 major parties (which have ever won more than 5% of the seats in the state) had a woman at the head. An analysis of six elections held in 3,473 assemblies between 1980 and 2007 says that 70% of the assemblies did not have a single woman candidate.
There were only 7% seats in which more than one woman candidate was in the fray.
According to the World Bank report, the literacy rate of women in the country is 77% and that of men is 85%. In states where the literacy rate of women is lower than the national average, their chances of winning are also less.
Where the gender ratio is better, a woman’s victory increases the vote share of other women candidates. Besides, the chances of a female candidate winning next time also increase.
