Will Bengal's parties finally put more women on the ballot?

In the last three Assembly elections, no major party came close to giving women one-third of its nominations.

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, which promises 33 per cent reservation for women, won’t be in effect in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections. But its passing has raised hopes of a better gender balance in ticket distribution — that and the fact that the state is led by a woman, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

In previous Assembly elections, did major parties in Bengal prioritise women? Or did men continue to dominate nominations despite promises of empowerment?

In the 2011 Assembly election, women’s representation in ticket distribution remained far below one-third across parties. The Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee’s party, allotted 14.2 per cent of its tickets to women. The Bharatiya Janata Party fielded just eight per cent women candidates. The Indian National Congress gave 10.6 per cent of its tickets to women.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had the highest share among the major players at 23.8 per cent. But even this was nearly 10 percentage points short of a third.

In the 2016 Assembly elections, the TMC gave 15.4 per cent of its tickets to women, the BJP 11 per cent, the Congress 9.8 per cent, and the CPI(M) 12.8 per cent. All four major parties remained far below the 33 per cent. In fact, not a single party crossed even 20 per cent that year.

In 2021, there was a marginal increase in some parties’ women’s shares of tickets, but the overall picture continued to fall well short of 33 per cent. The TMC allotted 16.6 per cent of its tickets to women. The BJP gave 13 per cent, the CPI(M) 15.1 per cent, and Congress just 7.6 per cent.