MUMBAI: The Mahayuti government’s Ladki Bahin scheme may have helped increase women voters’ turnout in the Maharashtra assembly polls, but only 21 women got elected this time against 24 in the previous election.
According to the Election Commission data, of the 4126 candidates in the fray, 250 were women including independents. Out of the 250 women candidates, only 21 got elected to the assembly.
The BJP has the largest elected women MLAs — 10 out of 14 candidates. Two women candidates of Shiv Sena (Shinde) got elected, four from Ajit Pawar-led NCP and one from the Congress.
The elected BJP women MLAs include Shweta Mahale from Chikhali, Meghna Bordikar from Jintur, Devyani Farande from Nashik Central, Seema Hire from Nashik West, Manda Mhatre from Belapur, Manisha Chaudhary from Dahisar, Vidya Thakur from Goregaon, Madhuri Misal from Parvati, Monika Rajale from Shevgaon and Namita Mundada from Kaij, Sreejaya Chavan from Bhokar, Sulabha Gaikwad from Kalyan East, Sneha Pandit from Vasai, and Anuradha Chavan from Phulambri. Shiv Sena’s women MLAs include Manjula Gavit from Sakri and Sanjana Jadhav from Kannada. NCP’s elected women candidates include Sulabha Khodke (Amravati), Saroj Ahire (Deolali), Sana Malik (Anushakti Nagar) and Aditi Tatkare (Shrivardh).
In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP, Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP had fielded 45 women, of whom 24 women were elected to the 288-member assembly. The women representation percentage was 8% against 7% this time.
“Though the state and Central governments launched schemes for women empowerment, representation of women is sliding,” said a political analyst. “Political parties are always reluctant to field women candidates arguing that they face difficulty to get elected.”