BENGALURU: Not a single woman MP has been elected from Bengaluru although 17 Lok Sabha elections have been held in the past 73 years.
Now, both Congress and BJP have fielded “strong” women candidates for Bengaluru South and Bengaluru North constituencies, respectively. It remains to be seen if voters of the IT city will elect a woman to the Lok Sabha for the first time.
Bengaluru, which had two Lok Sabha constituencies till 2009, has three since then. This time, BJP has fielded Union Minister for State Shobha Karandlaje for Bengaluru North and Congress has chosen Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Soumya Reddy for Bengaluru South.
Former mayor and Congress leader Gangambike Mallikarjun told TNIE that Lingayat social philosopher Basavanna had stressed the need for women leadership in various walks of life. Indira Gandhi was the country’s first and the only woman PM. “Considering all this, we should have had many women leaders in top positions in the country. But, women are yet to get their proper share of representation in all elected bodies,” she added.
Recalling her own experience, Gangambike said she aspired to contest from the Chickpet Assembly constituency on a Congress ticket last year. “I was Bengaluru mayor and had also worked in many positions not only in the party, but also in various associations and organisations. Just because I am a woman, I was not given a ticket for Chickpet,” she added.
Unfortunately, no political party is keen on giving more representation to women in politics. Reservation for women in various elected bodies should be implemented properly, she said. Bengaluru should be represented by women in the Lok Sabha. “Bengaluru has unique problems and women candidates can tackle them effectively by not getting influenced by any vested interests,” the former mayor said.
Karnataka has elected 15 women MPs in the past 17 LS elections, including bypolls. Indira Gandhi contested from Chikkamagaluru in the 1978 LS bypoll, which gave her political rebirth. This time, BJP has chosen Shobha for Bengaluru North and Gayathri Siddeshwar for Davanagere. The Congress has also selected a few women candidates.
Prominent winners
Sarojini Mahishi was the first woman MP elected four times from Dharwad North Lok Sabha constituency (1962-1980).
In 1978, Indira Gandhi won Chikkamagaluru LS bypoll against Veerendra Patil.
Tejaswini Gowda defeated JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda in the 2004 LS polls from Kanakapura constituency
In 1999, former AICC president Sonia Gandhi fought against former BJP’s Sushma Swaraj in Ballari and won.
In 2019, actor Sumalatha Ambareesh won the Mandya seat as an independent candidate.