Lok Sabha elections 2024: More women candidates in fray in Maharashtra this time

NCP (SP) candidate from Baramati Supriya Sule interacts with voters at Khadakwasla. Pic/Anurag Ahire

An unprecedented 16 of Maharashtra's 48 Lok Sabha constituencies are witnessing electoral battles involving women candidates. One of them, Baramati, is seeing sisters-in-law Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar face off.

In the 2019 general election, in Maharashtra, 11 women - mostly from political families - were in the race. Eight went on to become MPs: NCP's Supriya Sule (Baramati), Shiv Sena's Bhavana Gawali (Yavatmal-Washim), BJP's Pritam Munde (Beed), Raksha Khadse (Raver), Heena Gavit (Nandurbar), Poonam Mahajan (Mumbai North Central) and Bharati Pawar (Dindori); and NCP-backed independent Navneet Rana (Amravati).

Congress's Priya Dutt (Mumbai North Central) lost against Poonam Mahajan and BJP's Kanchan Kul was defeated by Sule. Congress candidate Urmila Matondkar (Mumbai North) lost by a huge margin.

Shiv Sena candidate Rajashri Patil addresses a public meeting in Yavatmal. Pic/Satej Shinde; (right) Yamini Jadhav, the Shinde Sena's Mumbai South candidate

Though there has been an improvement in terms of the participation of women in the democratic process, equal representation remains a distant dream as there are some 100 candidates who have the backing of major parties in the race overall.

Though there is reservation for women in local bodies, there isn't any reservation for women in the highest house of the nation despite it being in discussion for at least two decades.

In 2019, 724 women contested the Lok Sabha election across India and 78 were voted to power, the highest such number to date. Of these 78 parliamentarians, 11 were from West Bengal and 10 from UP. This time, however, there may be an opportunity to increase the representation of women from the state.

Seat figures

There are two major alliances comprising six political parties in the fray. The Mahayuti - which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) and NCP - has 10 women candidates in total while the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) - of which the Congress, Sena UBT and NCP (SP) are a part - is fielding seven women.

The BJP, which is contesting 28 seats in the state, has given tickets to six women. The party's woman power is concentrated in North Maharashtra because it has fielded four female aspirants from there. Its alliance partner, the Shinde Sena declared two women candidates from their share of 15 seats. The NCP (Ajit Pawar) group, which is contesting four seats declared two women candidates, Sunetra Pawar from Baramati and Archana Patil from Osmanabad.

The MVA member Shiv Sena (UBT), which is contesting 21 seats, declared women candidates for two, Palghar and Kalyan. Four women are contesting on a Congress ticket. Its first choice for the Ramtek seat Rashmi Barve couldn't contest because of a caste certificate issue. The grand old party is in the fray in 17 seats.

NCP(SP) party declared Sule's candidacy from Baramati, precipitating the interesting clash between Sharad Pawar's daughter and daughter-in-law.

Mumbai situation

Yamini Jadhav, MLA and wife of Yashwant Jadhav, former standing committee chairman of BMC, is contesting from Mumbai South. Congress's Varsha Gaikwad wanted to contest from South Central but is being fielded from North Central. Sena (UBT) has given tickets to Vaishali Darekar from Kalyan and Bharati Kamdi from Palghar.

Sanjana Ghadi, spokesperson, Shiv Sena (UBT), said, "There should be more women who can take decisions and not serve as rubber stamps for their husbands or fathers. In our party, we have a strong network of women at the grassroots level."

Sheetal Mhatre, from the Shiv Sena, said that the party had given tickets to women who have been in the political arena for years and work hard to create their space.

11
No. of women in race in 2019