Haryana elections: With less than a month to go for the Haryana Assembly elections, major political parties have fielded only 51 women candidates. In the 2019 elections, 104 women candidates, including Independents, were in the fray. According to data available, the Congress has fielded 12 women, the highest, followed by INLD-BSP alliance (11), BJP and AAP (10 each), and JJP-Azad Samaj Party alliance (8).
Savitri Jindal (74), mother of Kurukshetra BJP MP Naveen Jindal, is contesting as an Independent from Hisar against health minister Kamal Gupta.
Data shows that in the last 14 assembly elections in the state, only 87 women have become lawmakers. In the past five assembly elections from 2000, as many as 47 women have become MLAs. Only four women were elected as MLAs in 2000 out of 49 in the fray, 12 in 2005 and 9 in 2009.
Women's participation in Haryana's politics has been there since the formation of state in 1966 and notably, it has been increasing by the year. In the assembly elections held from 1967 to 2019, 575 women candidates contested, out of which 87 have won. In the first assembly elections in 1967, four women MLAs were elected. At the same time, out of the 12 women candidates who contested the 1968 elections, seven had won. In the 2014 assembly elections, the maximum number of 13 women MLAs were elected in the state.
