New Delhi: Women accounted for only around 10% candidates in 2024 Lok Sabha and 20 Assembly elections held after passing the 33% women's quota law, but this number could have plunged further deep if independents and candidates from registered unrecognised parties did not enter the fray.
A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) showed that out of a total of 31,429 candidates who contested these elections, only 3,273 (10.2%) were women fielded by political parties.
It came at a time the government is looking at avenues for implementing the 33% quota regime for women in Lok Sabha and Assemblies.
Indicating that the recognised parties with a bigger pie in power and possibility of winning seats are reluctant to field more women, their share among women candidates were less compared to independents and those fielded by registered unrecognised parties.
Registered unrecognised parties have a smaller reach compared to the recognised ones. Parties get recognition as a national or state party after meeting conditions like garnering a set proportion of votes.
The analysis based on the election affidavits of 8,360 Lok Sabha candidates showed that 800 or 9.56% were women. Among them, the highest chunk was independents at 279 or 34.87% of women candidates while registered unrecognised parties, which has not crossed the threshold to become recognised parties, fielded 267 women or 33.75%.
The registered parties like BJP, Congress, AAP and Samajwadi Party fielded only 254 women, which was 31.75% of the women candidates. While Congress fielded 13% women candidates and BJP 16%, state parties like Naam Tamilar Katchi (50%), BJD (33%), RJD (29%) and Trinamool Congress (25%) had a better gender balance.
In the 20 Assembly polls after the passage of the Women's Bill, only 3,273 (10.41%) out of 31,429 candidates were women. In a reversal of trend compared to the Lok Sabha polls, the state polls saw recognised parties having a bigger share of women candidates compared to independents though it did not cross the 50% mark.
Among the 3,273 candidates, 1,394 or 42.59% were fielded by recognised parties while 1,121 or 34.24% were independents and 758 or 23.15% were from registered unrecognised parties.
The International Parliamentary Union had ranked India 151 among 185 countries in terms of women’s representation in Parliament in March 2025. The ADR report said there is up to 50% quota for women in local bodies but it has not translated into increased representation in Parliament or assemblies.
The ADR report said the chances of winning of a female candidate with assets less than Rs one crore million was 1.49% only in the 2024 Lok Sabha election and none of the 279 independent women candidates won given the absence of support.
In 1957, it said only 45 women stood as candidates in the Lok Sabha elections but it soared to 800 in 2024, demonstrating an increasing willingness and opportunity for women to participate as candidates.
It said the lack of representation is primarily caused by male dominated party structure, lack of inner-party democracy within parties, societal norms, expectations that prioritise traditional gender roles, caregiving duties, institutional barriers, patriarchal norms, stereotypes and biases based on physical characteristics, cultural biases and the long prevalent notion that women are not as electable as men.
“Even the women from political dynasties are mostly given safe seats previously occupied by a male family member where their win is almost assured. The highly centralized and non-transparent ticket distribution within political parties also tend to disproportionately allot tickets to mostly those women candidates who are from established political families, dominant castes, and financially affluent groups,” it said.