The run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election is witnessing a parallel mobilisation apart from the campaigning for votes -- a movement to make the political parties realise the power of women who constitute 49 per cent of the population in the country. Sadly, it seems the ‘Power of 49’ movement has made no difference to the political parties in Rajasthan -- a state run by a woman chief minister and woman governor -- as far as giving tickets to women candidates is concerned.
The Election Commission information suggests that 11 out of 20 Lok Sabha constituencies where elections are to be conducted on April 17 for the first phase do not have a single female candidate. This also includes Jaipur Rural, a part of the state capital. And shockingly, there are only 17 women in fray out of the total 239 candidates across the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the desert state which has a population of 2.01 crore female population.
Interestingly, the Jhunjhunu constituency, with 5 female candidates, tops the list followed by Jodhpur and Chittorgarh with 3 candidates each.
There are only five seats in the state that have one female candidate contesting, of which Jaipur is one.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded only one female candidate. Worse is the Aam Aadmi Party, which claims to change the norms of conventional politics, which has failed to find a single woman candidate.
“We tried hard but there were almost negligible female candidates seeking tickets from us. Otherwise the AAP has fielded a good number of female candidates in other parts of country,” Mulkraj Singh, spokesperson of AAP’s Rajasthan unit, said.
Mayawati-led Bahujan Samajwadi Party has also fielded just one woman candidate.
However, the Congress, which has fielded six women candidates, is clearly leading the pack.
“We are seeing such situation since several decades. So we have been demanding women reservation in Parliament since the past 16 years,” reacted Mamta Jaitley, a women’s issues activist in Jaipur.
Image: A woman leaves a polling booth after casting her ballot near Abu Road in Rajasthan during the 2009 general elections
Photograph: Arko Dutta/Reuters
