GUWAHATI: Only seven, or 11.86%, of the women candidates won in the Assam Assembly elections. There were altogether 722 candidates, 59 of them women.
Of the seven who won, four are from the ruling BJP, one each from BJP allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) and one from the Congress.
The BJP’s Ajanta Neog, Nilima Devi, Rupali Langthasa and Niso Terangpi won the Golaghat, Mangaldoi, Haflong and Diphu seats, respectively.
Sewli Mohilary (BPF) won the Kokrajhar seat, Diptimoyee Chowdhury (AGP) won the Bongaigaon seat and Baby Begum of the Congress won the Dhubri seat.
Former college lecturer Gyanashree Bora (Raijor Dal) and London-educated Kunki Chowdhury (Assam Jatiya Parishad) lost to their BJP rivals in the Mariani and Guwahati Central seats, respectively. The two were much discussed ahead of the elections.
In the lead up to the polls, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had ruffled quite a few feathers by going hard at Kunki’s family, claiming that her Gorkha mother, Sujata Gurung Chowdhury, is a beef eater. Sujata, who is originally from Kalimpong in West Bengal, as well as Kunki, had dismissed the claims.
Sarma had also targeted Gyanashree by stating that the people of Mariani should vote for a local candidate, alluding that she is not from the constituency. Unlike Kunki, who comes from an affluent business family, Gyanashree was born into a farmer’s family.
In the 2016 and 2021 polls, Assam had 91 and 76 women candidates, respectively.