HYDERABAD: It was only recently that the Telangana State Cabinet had come under a lot of criticism for its conspicuous lack of women. Automatically, one would expect that the State would do better with the Parliamentary elections that follow. But alas, the situation is hardly different. Of the total 443 candidates who are left in the fray across the 17 Lok Sabha Constituencies in Telangana, only 21 are women; a number that constitutes less than five per cent of the total.
In fact, there is not even a single woman contesting this election from as many as four Lok Sabha constituencies, namely Karimnagar, Medak, Hyderabad and Bhongir.
The TRS has fielded all of two women candidates. The first is K Kavitha, daughter of CM K Chandrasekhar Rao, contesting from the Nizamabad constituency; and the second is Kavitha Maloth in Mahabubabad (ST). On the other hand, the Congress fares even worse with just a single woman candidate -- Renuka Chowdhury in Khammam.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also fielded just two women -- D K Aruna from Mahbubnagar and Sruthi Bangaru from Nagarkurnool.
Mahabubabad (ST) Lok Sabha constituency has the maximum number of women in the fray at three candidates. Two women each are contesting from Peddapalli, Chevella, Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda and Warangal seats. Of the 185 candidates contesting from Nizamabad, only two are women. This include K Kavitha from the TRS and Y Rajitha who is an Independent.
7 independent candidates for the polls
As many as 7 independent candidates are in the fray. It can be seen that this number is two higher than the sum of candidates fielded by all three major parties