The Women’s Reservation Bill has been introduced in the Lok Sabha after a long wait of 27 years. On September 18, the Modi Cabinet had approved the proposal to give 33 percent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies.
If the government passes the Women’s Reservation Bill in the special session, then the equation of Lok Sabha seats may change before the year 2024.
In such a situation, about 180 out of total 543 seats in the Lok Sabha will be reserved for women. However, the biggest question is whether common women will be able to reach Parliament by getting elected from these seats? Because, at present the data regarding women MPs in the Lok Sabha is surprising.
78 women MPs in Lok Sabha, 24 in Rajya Sabha
In 2021, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs released a report saying that there are 78 women MPs in Lok Sabha, whereas in Rajya Sabha this figure is 24. According to ADR, there are about 4300 assembly seats in the country, out of which the number of women MLAs is only around 340.
According to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the responsibility of increasing the participation of women lies on the Law and Home Ministries, which can be done only by implementing reservation. According to the ministry, the reason behind not increasing the share of women in the Union Cabinet is the Prime Minister’s privilege.
Leader’s wife or daughters dominate the Lok Sabha
There are currently 78 women MPs in the Lok Sabha, but out of these, 32 MPs are either the wives of the leaders or the daughters of the leaders. The families of the leaders also have dominance in the Rajya Sabha. West Bengal has the highest number of women MPs, but film actresses dominate there.
11 women MPs from UP, 2 are daughters-in-law of Gandhi family
In the 2019 elections, 11 women from Uttar Pradesh reached the Lok Sabha after winning. These include two daughters-in-law of the Gandhi family. Rajiv Gandhi’s wife Sonia Gandhi is MP from Rae Bareli and Sanjay Gandhi’s wife Maneka Gandhi is MP from Sultanpur seat.
Similarly, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna’s daughter Rita Bahuguna is MP from Allahabad seat. Swami Prasad Maurya’s daughter Sanghamitra Badaun and former MLA Azad Ari’s wife Sangeeta Azad are MPs from Lalganj seat.
Three women MPs in Bihar, all three are wives of leaders
There are three women MPs from Bihar, but all three are wives of leaders. Dinesh Singh, husband of RLJP MP from Vaishali seat, Veena Singh, is counted among the veteran leaders. Similarly, Siwan MP Kavita Singh’s husband Ajay Singh is also already active in politics.
In view of Ajay Singh’s political activism in Siwan, JDU had given ticket to Kavita in 2019. Rama Devi from Shivhar also has a family political background. Rama Devi’s husband Brij Bihari Prasad was a minister in the Lalu government.
Both MPs of Jharkhand are maintaining the legacy. In 2019, Annapurna Devi had won from Koderma on BJP ticket and Geeta Kora had won from Singhbhum on Congress ticket in 2019. Annapurna Devi is also a minister at the Centre. Annapurna Devi has inherited political legacy from her husband Ramesh Yadav. Yadav was the MLA from Koderma in United Bihar.
Similarly, Geeta Kora’s husband Madhu Kora has been the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Cora is still active in politics.
Preference for daughters of leaders in Maharashtra
8 MPs from Maharashtra with 48 seats are women. These include daughters of 4 leaders and daughters-in-law of 2 leaders. Supriya Sule, Preetma Munde, Poonam Mahajan and Heena Gavit are daughters of veteran leaders of Maharashtra. Similarly, Raksha Khadse and Bharti Panwar have inherited their father-in-law.
Supriya Sule’s father Sharad Pawar is NCP President and former Union Minister. Preetma Munde’s father Gopinanth Munde was also a big politician. Poonam Mahajan has inherited Pramod Mahajan’s politics. Hina’s father Vijay Gavit was also counted among the veteran leaders of Maharashtra.
Bharti Panwar’s father-in-law Arjun Panwar was a minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government. Raksha Khadse’s father-in-law Eknath Khadse has also been a minister of Maharashtra.
The situation is quite bad in these states too
Reeti Pathak, MP from Sidhi, Madhya Pradesh and Himadri Singh, MP from Shahdol, have also inherited politics. Jyotsana Mahant’s husband Charandas Mahant from Korba, Chhattisgarh is currently the speaker of the assembly.
Gangaram Koli, father-in-law of Ranjita Koli, MP from Bharatpur, Rajasthan, has been an MP. She is the daughter of Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, MP from Thottukudi seat of Tamil Nadu. Kanimozhi’s brother MK Stalin is currently the Chief Minister of the state.
Brother of Meghalaya MP Agatha Sangma is also currently the Chief Minister. Captain Amarinder Singh, husband of Punjab’s Patiala MP Parineet Kaur, has also been the Chief Minister. Andhra MP Gotedi Madhavi’s father was also a big communist leader.
Shardaben Patel, wife of former minister Anilbhai Patel, is an MP from Mehsana, Gujarat.
Actresses’ veto on workers’ rights Nusrat Jahan, Mimi Chakraborty and Shatabdi Roy are MPs from Trinamool while Locket Chatterjee is from BJP. Trinamool had also given tickets to Arpita Ghosh, Moonmoon Sen and Dev, but all of them could not win. Not only this, Hema Malini from Mathura seat of UP and Kirron Kher, MP from Chandigarh seat, have also entered from the film world. 10 Chief Ministers of BJP and 4 of Congress, not even a single woman BJP has government in 10 states in the country, but not a single state has a woman Chief Minister.
Similarly, Congress is in power in 4 states in the country. Ashok Gehlot is the Chief Minister in Rajasthan, Bhupesh Baghel in Chhattisgarh, Sukhwinder Sukhu in Himachal and Siddaramaiah in Karnataka. Aam Aadmi Party also has governments in two states, but the party has not made a woman the Chief Minister in any state.
Mamata Banerjee in Bengal
Women’s reservation has been openly supported by BJP as well as Congress, but the interesting thing is that from both the parties Women have not been given much attention in top positions.