It has never been so good for women candidates at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation ( KMC) with 67 of them elected to the 144-ward civic body when the results were declared on Tuesday.
With over 46 per cent, this is the highest number of female candidates ever elected to the KMC.
Of the 67 candidates, 51 are from the Trinamool Congress, 11 from the Left Front, three from the Bharatiya Janata Party and two from Congress.
Commenting on the development, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted that 44 per cent of the councillors elected to the new Kolkata Municipal Corporation from AITC are women.
Of the 144 wards, 114 are with the Trinamool Congress and about 51 per cent are women. The Trinamool Congress had fielded 66 female candidates to contest the KMC polls. While there is a law of nominating 50 per cent, female candidates for polls to panchayats in West Bengal the same has not been extended to municipalities of the State.
The Left Front had nominated the highest number of female candidates -- 76 -- for elections to KMC. Of the 15 Left Front candidates who won in the KMC polls 11 candidates -- which is about 73 per cent -- are women.
Commenting on the development Brinda Karat, member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), told The Hindu , the nomination of large number of female candidates is recognition to the fact that women have been at the forefront of resisting the attack on democracy in West Bengal.
Explaining the phenomenon, Biswanath Chakraborty, professor of political science and a political analyst, told The Hindu that the decision to field more women candidates was a conscious decision of the Left Front.
“It was a strategy to counter the Trinamool Congress which fielded 66 female candidates. Moreover since 2008, it is being seen that the female voters were more inclined towards TMC which is a party run by a female leader,” Mr Chakraborty said. He added that despite their high numbers female candidates may not get key portfolios. “What is to been seen now is that in spite of high number of women elected to the KMC, how many of them get the post of Member Mayor-in-Council,” he said.
