Only 10% of MPs/MLAs women, says ADR report | India News

New Delhi: Out of 4,666 MPs/MLAs across the country, only 464 or 10% are women, highlighted a report on ‘Women’s Political Participation and Representation in India’ released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on the occasion of International Women’s Day on Sunday.Analysis by ADR and National Election Watch (NEW) shows that 74 (14%) of the 543 MPs in the 18th Lok Sabha are women. 22 states and union territories have women MPs. Kerala is the only major state without a woman MP.West Bengal has the highest number of women MPs (11), followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra (7 each) and Madhya Pradesh (6).Among the parties, the BJP has the highest number of women MPs (31), followed by the Congress (13) and the Trinamool Congress (11). The analysis reveals that only national parties and state parties have been able to elect their women candidates. No unrecognized political party or independent woman candidate won the election.Out of 4,123 legislators across the country, 390 (9%) are women Among the state and UT assemblies, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of women legislators (47), followed by West Bengal (40), Bihar (29) and Madhya Pradesh (27). BJP has the highest number of women MLAs (163), followed by Congress (59) and Trinamool Congress (34).On the status of women’s participation in Indian politics, the report highlights that the number of women contesting elections has increased significantly over the decades. There were only 45 women candidates in the 1957 Lok Sabha elections. By the time of the 18th Lok Sabha elections, this number had increased to 800, demonstrating the increasing willingness and opportunity for women to participate as political candidates.Also, women’s representation in legislative bodies has gradually improved. In the Lok Sabha, the number of women representatives was 22 (5%) in 1951, increasing to 74 (14%) in 2024.At the local level, women hold a significant share of seats. In 2022, women comprised 44% of representatives in local self-government institutions, totaling 1,375,914 representatives.The Women’s Protection Bill 2023, known as ‘Nari Shakti Bandan Adhiniyam’, was passed in September 2023. It mandates 33% (one-third) reservation for women in Lok Sabha, State Assemblies and Delhi Assembly. However, its implementation will be after the census and delimitation exercise. Against this background, the report emphasized that “timely conduct of the planned census in 2026-27 is crucial for the implementation of this bill by 2029.“