The 15th Lok Sabha will see an unprecedented number of women MPs, 61 in all, taking their place in parliament.
The 15th Lok Sabha will see an unprecedented number of women MPs, 61 in all, taking their place in parliament.
In this election, 556 women candidates were fielded by various parties.
“It’s easy for men to be dismissive about women candidates while discussing ticket distribution. But with women successfully heading parties, women candidates are considered more carefully,” a senior Congress leader says, referring to the four political parties — the Congress, the Trinamool, the BSP and the AIADMK — which are being headed by women.
The rapport between female leaders and MPs was on display at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting on Tuesday when Mausam Noor, MP from Malda (North), was hugged by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The Congress chief then introduced her to senior Congress leaders and said she (Noor) “had to work very hard.”
“It was a great encouragement for me,” says Noor, niece of Bengal strongman the late ABA Ghani Khan Choudhary.
Indeed, the Congress has the largest number of elected women MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha. The party has 23 women MPs, while the BJP has 13. A state-wise breakup shows that Uttar Pradesh has sent the largest maximum number of women MPs (13), with Bengal coming in second with seven.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee made it a point to give tickets to women candidates in her party. Film actress Shatabdi Roy was surprised when Banerjee picked her out to fight from the Bolpur seat in West Bengal.
“I wanted to do something for Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool, but I seriously didn’t know which seat she had picked out for me,” says Roy, one of the three women MPs of the party.
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