Gujarat Assembly polls 2022 | Only 139 women candidates in fray out of total 1,621 contestants, 38 of them from three major parties

The BJP has given tickets to 18 women candidates as against 12 in 2017, while the Congress has fielded 14 women although that figure was 10 in the last Assembly election.

Even as women account for nearly 50% of voters in Gujarat, the number of female candidates contesting the next month's Assembly elections is not very encouraging as only 139 of them are in the fray out of as many as 1,621 contenders for 182 seats.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress have continued their tradition of offering tickets to only a handful of women, but still the number of such candidates fielded by them this time is more as compared to what it was in the 2017 election.

The BJP has given tickets to 18 women candidates as against 12 in 2017, while the Congress has fielded 14 women although that figure was 10 in the last Assembly election. The two parties have also accommodated more number of women candidates from Dalit and tribal communities this time.

Congress candidate from Sayajigunj seat in Vadodara Ami Ravat said the representation of women will rise when the Bill providing 33% reservation to women is passed in parliament, while BJP’s State women wing head Dipikaben Sarvada said her party was already doing it by giving key posts, including that of President, to women.

As per the data made available by the Election Commission, there are a total of 1,621 candidates contesting next month’s Gujarat elections to be held in two phases – on December 1 and 5. Of them, 139 are women candidates, with 56 of them contesting as independents.

In 2017, there were 126 women candidates out of the total 1,828 contestants. That year, Gujarat sent 13 women candidates to the Assembly. This included nine from BJP and four from Congress. As many as 104 women contestants had their security deposit forfeited, the EC data showed.

Talking to PTI over phone, Congress’s Ravat said, "Our party has tabled in Parliament the bill for 33 per cent reservation for women, which the BJP did not accept. Congress involved women in India's independence struggle at a time when they did not come out of their homes.” Even in developed countries, women had to fight for their voting rights, she said.