Elections to the 90-member state legislative assembly will take place in the state of Haryana on October 5 to choose the state’s next administration. Since the state was formed in 1966 by the division of Punjab, a review of past statistics shows that just 87 women have been elected as MLAs.
Between the 87 women and the assembly elections in 2000, 47 had been elected. There has never been a female chief minister in the state renowned for its unbalanced sex ratio, not just female MLAs.
Speaking of the most recent state assembly elections, out of the 104 women who ran, only nine were successful in winning the seat. 13 out of 116 female candidates were elected to the legislature in 2014, setting a record.
With twelve women running for office, the main opposition Congress party has the most of any political party in the contest, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has only granted tickets to ten women.
“A Bill granting 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and state assemblies was passed but it will be implemented in 2029, which is also a joke with women,” said Geeta Bhukkal, a Congress candidate running in the Jhajjar constituency and a former state education minister.
While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has offered 10 women from its list of 90 candidates a chance to run, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) alliance have fielded 11 women jointly.
Eight women have been named by the newly formed alliance between the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and the Azad Samaj Party for the 85 seats it is running for in this election.
Women’s representation has long been a source of worry in the state, according to a study by Ashoka University’s Triveni Centre for Political Data (TCPD), considering the state’s history of societal inequality, crimes against women, and subpar performance in metrics connected to gender.
“The rising number of women candidates in the Vidhan Sabha elections over the years and their ability to outvote men comfortably from 2000 up to 2019 in the state elections comes as a plus for women in politics in Haryana. However, amongst the elected women MLAs in the said period, many hailed from affluent political families, leaving circumstances relatively unchanged,” according to the study.