Every political party has a precise or positive preference in selecting male or female candidates for the declared electoral bout. But I’m not nosy to enter a nonessential debate of that messy kind.
What I’d like to talk about is the number of women candidates girding their loins in the approaching Delhi assembly election on February 8 accurately. Oh, wait! it is not hidden, hence we can effortlessly see the respective numbers of the three main political parties trying their luck in much-publicised fray. This can only be possible after going through the exact count of the women contesting the assembly polls on different political parties’ tickets.
As per reports, the party-wise division for the 2020 Delhi elections stands as such: BJP (5), Congress (10), and AAP (9) respectively. It is, of course, these three big political parties which are existing into the fray in a full-fledged way. If the Aam Aadmi Party alleges that the BJP and the Congress are two sides of the same coin, both the parties instantly find faults in the AAP.
The maximum number of women candidates come from the Congress party followed by the AAP and the BJP respectively. There was a total number of 15 women candidates in the year 2015 that gets a boost by bringing as many as 24 contestants in the year 2020. This figure is way lesser than 40% if we calculate it. Nothing can be done in this regard as it is the prerogative of the political parties’ high command who acquire sharp brains to consider.
The big BJP has fielded as many as five women candidates into the fray for this year’s assembly elections in Delhi. This number comes lower than the 2015 elections when the ruling party at the Centre had brought a total of 8 strong candidates into the Delhi battle of ballots at that time.
Far from this, both the other political parties have increased the women candidates’ number from 5 to 10 and 6 to 9 respectively in this fresh edition of Delhi assembly elections. The BJP’s tally does not seem to have increased despite the party leaders’ utmost to bring a considerable change in their representation.
There may be some reason behind the decrease in the number that has faded. The women politicians appear to have been grounded by men in politics and being advised to convey their voices all the more. What an American author jots down by saying, “You get what you tolerate,” seems tangible here. Though, the time demands women’s larger participation.
But the uproar in this regard is still not impacting the big leaders. Women’s representation in electoral politics is still limited. It does not point to a positive level. Politics remains a time consuming, challenging and demanding field so this could not be taken as the basis of blocking the way for eligible women, as some stress.
However, one practical reality can’t be dismissed here. It is only the oldest political party that has given a chance to women with an open mind. Let the women ponder over where they stand in the party’s electoral battles.