Finding ‘Her’ Voice: Rajasthan Assembly Will See Lowest Women MLAs in 2 Decades | Analysis

Despite women outperforming men in terms of voter turnout, Rajasthan awaits a decent share of female representation in the assembly. Of the 199 MLAs elected to the House on Sunday, only 20 are women – lowest after 2003, when only 12 women made it to the House.

Last week, News18 reported how women voters have been surpassing men since 2013 in terms of voter turnout, even as the state has more men voters. But despite the improvement in the women voter turnout, the share of women in the assembly hasn’t improved.

ALSO READ | Women Voters Continue to Surpass Men in Turnout in Rajasthan Elections | News18 Analysis

In the last three elections, there has been a consistent drop in the number of women MLAs elected to the Rajasthan assembly. In 2008 and 2013, 28 women were elected to the House.

In 2018, the number of women MLAs dropped to 24 and this time it has reduced to just 20. Also, when compared to 2023, there were fewer women in the fray as well.

Of the 20 women MLAs, nine each are from the BJP and Congress and two are Independents.

Women representation in assemblies had been in the limelight for a long time. It became more prominent after political parties hailed and celebrated the passage of the women reservation’s bill in Parliament. Rajasthan was among the first few states that went to polls after political parties gave a clear nod to the idea of women reservation.

While the reservation bill is yet to become a ground reality, the need for more women representation does not seem to be the priority for political parties.

Overall, across the five states – Rajasthan, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh – more than 8,000 candidates were in the fray for about 680 seats. However, the overall women representation was as low as 10%, despite parties hailing the idea of 33% reservation for women.

Not just overall, none of the big parties attempted to field even close to 33% women in the elections across these states.

The five states went for polls in November and the results of four of these were declared on Sunday. Mizoram’s result was declared on Monday.