Representation of the fair sex has seen a rise in the 17th Lok Sabha, with as many as 78 women representatives being elected, the highest so far.
Altogether, 716 women had contested the polls, held for a total of 542 Lok Sabha seats, against 62 women
elected to the Lower House in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The number of women representatives has seen a slow, but steady rise. In the first LS polls, there was barely five per cent female representation, which has now reached 14 per cent.
In this respect, Trinamool Congress stands out among the parties, by giving more tickets to women candidates, compared to other political parties.
Prominent winning women candidates in the just-concluded elections include Sonia Gandhi (Congress), Union ministers Maneka Gandhi (BJP), Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD), Smriti Irani (BJP) and Anupriya Patel (AD-S)
Odisha has alone sent seven women MPs to the Lok Sabha in this election and which, interestingly constitute a 33 per cent per cent as played up by the chief minister who had in fact pioneered the 33 per cent for women in Lok Sabha and assembly representation. (UNI)
