New Delhi: Political parties keep saying that the women folk should get equal representation in all the fields but when it comes to give them equal representation in ticket allocation during elections, they all develop cold feet.
In the upcoming Delhi assembly elections, a total of only 19 female candidates have been given tickets by the three major political parties.
BJP has fielded the maximum number of women candidates for the 70 seats Delhi assembly. The party has given tickets to eight female candidates which includes it chief ministerial contestant Dr Kiran Bedi from Krishnagar and former Union minister Krishna Tirath from Patel Nagar. The average age of all the women candidates is below 40 except the above mentioned two candidates. The party has fielded three more women candidates compared to the last assembly election.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in the second position by fielding six women candidates in the assembly elections. The party had also given the same number of tickets in the last general election also. The AAP list includes former minister Rakhi Bidlan, Pramila Tokas, Saritha Singh, Alka Lambha, Vandana Jha and Bhavna Gaur.
The Congress is third in the list and has just given tickets to five female candidates. The prominent names in the list include Dr Kiran Walia who is contesting from New Delhi Assembly seat against Arvind Kejriwal. Another Congress candidate Sharmishta Mukherjee, the daughter of President Pranab Mukherjee, is contesting from Greater Kailash Assembly constituency.
In 2013 assembly elections, these parties had given tickets to 17 female candidates out of which only three could manage to register victories. It is worth mentioning that all the winning candidates were from AAP.
