The present government has returned to power in both Maharashtra and Haryana. Mahayuti government will be re-formed in Maharashtra. At the same time, in Jharkhand too, Hemant Soren will once again be Chief Minister.
In the recent assembly elections, Mahayuti won 231 of 288 seats in Maharashtra. The BJP won 132 seats, the Shiv Sena 57 and the NCP 41. In Jharkhand too, India Block won 56 of 81 assembly seats. Hemant Soren’s JMM won 34 seats, while the Congress won 16 seats.
In both states, women are seen as the main reason for the return of the ruling party. In both states, women receive financial assistance from the government. After the defeat, Sharad Pawar also admitted that the Ladki Bahin plan turned out to be a turning point.
How was the benefit?
‘Ladki Bahin Yojana’ was started before the elections in Maharashtra. Under this scheme, an assistance of Rs 1,500 will be provided every month to women between the ages of 21 and 65, whose annual income will be less than Rs 2.5 lakh. Under this scheme, one million women in the state get benefits. The BJP had promised that if it was returned to the government, it would be given Rs 2,100.
This time more than 65 per cent of the voting took place in Maharashtra. This figure was 4 percent more than in 2019. The difference in the percentage of votes between women and men has also been smaller. In the Lok Sabha elections held this year, there was a 4 per cent difference in the vote share of men and women. While in the assembly elections there was less than 2 per cent difference.
In the parliamentary elections, 66.84 percent of men voted. While women voted 65.22 percent. Its effect was visible in the results. It is believed that the majority of women voted for Mahayuti.
Similarly, in Jharkhand too, the Soren government is running ‘Maiyan Yojana’. Under this scheme, women between the ages of 21 and 50 are provided assistance of Rs 1,000 per month. However, this help is only available to those women whose annual income is less than Rs 3 lakh. 48 lakh women benefit from this scheme.
Before the elections, the Soren government announced that it would increase the amount of Mainiya Yojana from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500. According to the data, 70.46 percent of the total women voters cast their votes. This tremendous vote by women was decisive for Soren’s government.
Women are still lagging behind in politics
Women’s participation in elections has increased rapidly in recent years. Women participated enthusiastically in the elections of many federal states. Women have played an important role in the creation and fall of many governments. But these women are still far behind in politics.
This time, 21 women MLAs won in Maharashtra and 12 in Jharkhand. That means that of 288 MLAs from Maharashtra, only 7 per cent are women. While last time 24 women MLAs were elected. 363 women had participated in the elections in Maharashtra.
Similarly, in Jharkhand, 98 women participated in the elections, of which only 12 could win. This is the first time that so many women have become MLAs in Jharkhand. In 2019, 10 women MLAs were elected in Jharkhand. Currently there are 15 per cent women in the Jharkhand Assembly.
From Parliament to Assemblies… how many women?
Last year, the Modi government passed the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Act’ with the objective of providing 33 per cent reservation to increase the proportion of women in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies.
This bill has been passed which gives 33 per cent reservation to women. However, this has not yet been implemented. This will come into effect when the delimitation work is carried out after the census. After delimitation, the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats will be formed anew. After this, 33 per cent of seats in the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha of each state will be reserved for women.
This is necessary because currently there is not much representation of women in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies. Only 74 women could win the Lok Sabha elections held this year. While, in 2019, 78 women won the elections. Only 31 MPs in Rajya Sabha are women. Thus, there are 14 per cent women MPs in the Lok Sabha and less than 13 per cent in Rajya Sabha.
The situation is more or less the same also in the assemblies. Of the 31 state assemblies, the Chhattisgarh Assembly is the only one where more than 20 per cent are women MLAs. There are 19 women MLAs in Chhattisgarh.
Statistics show that there are 18 assemblies in the country where there are less than 10 per cent women MLAs. Assemblies where the representation of women is greater than 10 percent. These include Bihar (11%), Chhattisgarh (21%), Haryana (14%), Jharkhand (15%), Punjab (11%), Uttarakhand (11%), Uttar Pradesh (12%), West Bengal (14%). ). ) And Delhi (12%).
There are 8 per cent women MLAs in the Gujarat Assembly, while there is only one woman MLA in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.
Women chief ministers in only two states
Since independence, only 16 women have become Chief Ministers so far. Sucheta Kripalani was the first woman Chief Minister of the country. Sucheta Kripalani, a freedom fighter, was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1963 to 1967.
Currently, only two states in the country have female chief ministers. Atishi in Delhi and Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. Atishi became the Chief Minister of Delhi in September this year. Mamata Banerjee has been the Chief Minister of West Bengal since 2011.
Sheila Dikshit (Delhi), Jayalalitha (Tamil Nadu) and Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) have been Chief Ministers for the longest period.
There are 18 states in the country where no woman has been able to become Chief Minister till date. Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are the only states where women have been Chief Ministers twice so far.
VN Janaki Ramachandran was Chief Minister for only 23 days. Janaki was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from January 7, 1988 to January 30, 1988. After her, the shortest tenure is that of Sushma Swaraj, who was CM of Delhi for 52 days, from October 12, 1998. as of December 3, 1998.
We are far behind in the representation of women
India lags behind its neighbors Pakistan and Bangladesh in terms of women’s representation in politics. Only 25% of all parliamentarians in the world are women. Rwanda, Cuba, Bolivia and the United Arab Emirates are the only countries where there are more than 50% women parliamentarians.
According to the Sweden-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), some 40 countries have established quotas for women in parliament, either through constitutional amendments or by changing laws.
There are 60 seats reserved for women in the National Assembly of Pakistan. There are 50 seats reserved for women in the Parliament of Bangladesh. 33 percent of seats are reserved for women in Nepal’s Parliament.
Before the Taliban government, 27 percent of seats were reserved for women in Afghanistan’s Parliament. 50 percent of seats are reserved for women in the Federal National Council (FNC) of the United Arab Emirates. There should be at least 30 percent representation of women among candidates in Indonesia.
