Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee may be on her way to becoming the first woman Chief Minister of West Bengal, but the number of women elected to the State Assembly has actually declined in the recently concluded elections.
There are only 34 women who have been elected to the Assembly in these polls, a little over one-tenth of the total strength of the House. Their numbers have declined from the 37 women who were elected in 2006.
The number has declined despite an increase in the number of candidates from 139 in 2006 to 175 in these polls. The number of women MLAs elected in 2001 was 28 out of a total 114 women who contested.
Ms. Banerjee's party itself accounts for most of the women elected in the current polls. Of the 184 Trinamool MLAs, 24 are women. National Award-winning actress Debasree Roy, who defeated Communist Party of India (Marxist) heavyweight Kanti Ganguly; Sonali Guha, who has been elected on a Trinamool ticket for the third time; and Phiroza Bibi, who lost her son in the police firings at Nandigram are among those who have been elected.
Among the Trinamool's women MLAs are Shashi Panja, Shikha Chowdhury (Mitra) and Smita Bakshi — all of whom are related to prominent leaders of the party. All of them, along with Mala Saha, have been elected from constituencies within Kolkata.
Indeed, Kolkata is the only centre in the State where there is a semblance of gender equality, with four women among the total 11 MLAs from the city. The Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Uttar Dinajpur, Howrah and Birbhum districts have not elected a single woman.
The Congress and the Left, among the most vociferous supporters for the Women Reservation Bill, together account for 10 women MLAs in West Bengal.
Only four of the 42 Congress MLAs are women.
The Left had fielded 46 women candidates in these polls, six of whom won.
