NEW DELHI: In a first, female candidates contesting the Delhi civic polls this year have outnumbered their male counterparts by 10%. Of 1,416 candidates who are found eligible to fight the MCD election, 742 are female while 674 are male, according to the candidate list shared by the Delhi State Election Commission (SEC) on Thursday.
The main reason for the presence of a record number of women candidates is the 50% quota reserved for them after the delimitation of 250 freshly redrawn municipal wards. The list was prepared after completing the scrutiny of all nominations filed for the civic polls due next month.
The AAP has fielded the highest number of women contestants (138) followed by the BJP with 132. BJP leader and ex-mayor Jai Prakash said: “The BJP has given enough impetus to women empowerment by fielding many women candidates.”
AAP MLA Somnath Bharti, too, stressed the increased participation of women in the polls. “Putting women in a leadership role will result in compassionate and people-centric administration,” he said.
Meanwhile, Congress failed to field its candidates on all 250 seats.
The grand old party fielded candidates in 247 wards while BJP and AAP are contesting all 250 seats.
The state election body said on Thursday that it rejected 45% (1,169) of the total nominations filed by the candidates during scrutiny.