New Delhi: The recent
assembly elections in five states in India did give the country
two more women chief ministers but the gross representation of
women in these assemblies is a dismal nine percent.
According to a poll result analysis by think-tank Association for
Democratic Reforms (ADR), women legislators comprise just 72 of
the 824 newly elected legislators in the five new assemblies of
Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.
This is when all the major parties in these polls have been
supporting the Women's Reservation Bill calling for 33 percent
reservation in the assemblies and parliament. The bill, which has
been passed by the Rajya Sabha, is pending in the Lok Sabha.
While J. Jayalalithaa is the new chief minister of Tamil Nadu
following the results declared last week, Mamata Banerjee is to be
sworn in the new chief minister of West Bengal Friday.
"Overall, the total number of women MLAs (legislators) in these
five assemblies has reduced from 80 in 2006 to 72 in 2011," said a
statement from Election Watch, the election analysis wing of the
ADR.
Among the five assemblies, West Bengal has the highest number of
women members - 34 (12 percent) of the 294-member assembly. It is
followed by Assam with 14 (11 percent) women members in the
126-member house, Tamil Nadu with 17 (seven percent) in the
234-member assembly, and Kerala with only seven (five percent)
women legislators out of 140.
Puducherry has no women elected to its 30 member assembly.
Party-wise, the highest number of women legislators are from
Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, with 24 women lawmakers (13
percent).
The Congress, which won on its own in Assam, and in alliance in
Kerala and West Bengal, has overall 17 women legislators (10
percent). Of these, 11 are in Assam, four in West Bengal and one
each in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Jayalalithaa's AIADMK is third with 12 women legislators (8
percent).
Interestingly, 26 percent of these women are multi-millionaires,
with Jayalalithaa topping he list of the richest.
"A total of 19 (26 percent) women MLAs out of the total of 72
women MLAs are crorepatis (multi-millionaire). The maximum number
of crorepati women MLAs is from Tamil Nadu (nine) followed by
Assam (six) and West Bengal (four)," the report said.
The top two, in terms of assets, are Jayalalithaa (AIADMK) from
Tamil Nadu (Rs.51.4 crore) followed by Kasturi Das (Trinamool
Congress) from West Bengal (Rs.7.2 crore).
In addition, 13 women MLAs out of 72 (18 percent) have pending
criminal cases against them.
Comparatively, 244 men MLAs out of a total of 752 (32 percent)
have pending criminal cases against them.
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