Every political party wants the votes of women, yet none of them are willing to give adequate representation to the fairer sex if one goes by the number of women fielded for Assembly constituencies in the city.
It is a paradox that while all parties in principle agree to 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative bodies, few bother to give even a fraction of the ratio of tickets to women. Though the reservation bill is yet to be passed by Parliament, it suggests eight of the 24 Assembly constituencies in GHMC area should be allocated to women.
“Though the GHMC may not be taken as unit, going by 33 per cent reservation, each party should give tickets to eight women. But all parties are giving women a raw deal,” remarks Jaya Vindhyala of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
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Of the mainstream parties, only Congress and Lok Sata had fielded three women each in the 2009 Assembly elections. All the Congress women nominees won, while those of Lok Satta lost. If Telugu Desam, BJP and erstwhile Praja Rajyam gave one ticket each to women, TRS, MIM, MBT, CPI and CPM had the distinction of not giving ticket to even a single woman in the 24 Assembly constituencies.
“All parties want women to attend their public meetings in large numbers, but the same enthusiasm is not reflected while ensuring that enough number of women represent their respective parties in the Assembly. It shows their true colours,” Ms. Vindhyala charged.
She sees a correlation between increasing atrocities on women and their poor representation in legislative bodies. “It is unfortunate that women are not given adequate representation when they are making rapid strides in all other fields competing with men,” she rued.
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Progressive Organisation of Women (POW) president Sandhya remarked that all political parties irrespective of ideology are equally guilty of denial of tickets to women. “It shows how internally they are against women going up the ladder in the system,” she says, demanding that all parties give 50 per cent of tickets to women in all legislative bodies.
NOT A FAIR DEAL
In principle, 8 of the 24 Assembly constituencies in GHMC area should be allocated to women
In 2009, Congress and Lok Satta gave tickets to three women, while TDP and BJP fielded one each
MIM, MBT, TRS, CPI, and CPM did not give tickets to women for Assembly constituencies
Activist sees correlation between rising atrocities on women and their poor representation in legislature