By VK Lyngdoh
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023 was introduced in Lok Sabha on September 19, 2023. The Bill seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. A similar Bill had been introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2008, and was passed by the House two years later. It lapsed after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014.
According to PRS Legislative Research, women representation in Lok Sabha has increased from 5% in the first Lok Sabha to 15% in the current Lok Sabha. Scandinavian countries such as Sweden and Norway, and South Africa have more than 45% women representation in their national legislatures. Japan at 10%, lags behind India. Currently, 15% of Lok Sabha MPs and 13% of Rajya Sabha MPs are women. Among parties with more than 10 seats in Lok Sabha, 42% of Biju Janata Dal MPs and 39% of TMC MPs are women. In Rajya Sabha, 17% of INC MPs are women. TMC and BJD fielded the highest proportion of women candidates. Across parties with 10 or more MPs, women were as likely to win as men.
According to the ABP News Bureau in the 17th Lok Sabha, smaller states as well as Union territories, which account for fewer MPs, account for a better representation of women. The lone MPs for Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu as well as Chandigarh are both women. There’s one woman MP each for Meghalaya and Tripura, which overall have 2 Lok Sabha members. Meanwhile, the number is 1 out of 7 for national capital Delhi (14%). Among the bigger states, Odisha has the highest share of women MPs, at 7 out of 21 (33 percent). In the states that send the highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha, the share is much lower: Only 11 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 MPs are women (14%), while the number is 3 out of 39 for Tamil Nadu (8%). Eight of Maharashtra’s 48 MPs are women (17%), while West Bengal, with women comprising nearly a quarter of its MPs (10 out of 42), does slightly better. Other states at or closer to the quarter mark are Himachal Pradesh (1 out of 4) and Gujarat (6 out of 26). This data is derived from the current Lok Sabha composition, which takes into account the by polls that have taken place since 2019. As things stand, 27 seats are vacant, including three in UP, two in Maharashtra, and one in West Bengal. The vacant seats include those vacated by two women MPs, Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli, as she joined the Rajya Sabha) and Mahua Moitra (Krishnanagar, who was expelled).
Education Levels
According to a non-profit PRS Legislative Research there is no significant difference in the educational qualifications of men and women Members of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha. While 48% of male MPs are graduates, the number is 43% among women. Twenty-eight percent of women MPs are postgraduates against 23% of their male counterparts. At 7%, the number of doctorate-holders is the same among men and women. The research also points out that women’s attendance – a mark of parliamentary participation – is slightly lower (77%) than that for men (80%).
Lok Sabha elections in Meghalaya
Since the general election to the Lok Sabha in 1977, Meghalaya has never elected a woman as a Member of Parliament to the Lok Sabha, except in 2019 from 2 Tura Parliamentary Constituency when Agatha Sangma was elected as a National People’s Party candidate scoring 3,04,455 votes defeating Dr Mukul Sangma of the Indian National Congress by a margin of 64,030 votes. 1 Shillong Parliamentary Constituency never saw a woman contesting the Lok Sabha since 1977 except Dr Elizabeth Laitflang who in 1998 contested from the Bharatiya Janata Party and she came fifth by scoring 33,557 votes while Anilla D Shira of the BJP contested twice from 2 Tura Parliamentary constituency in 1996 and 1998 and was the runners up in both the years scoring 35,634 votes and 42,061 votes respectively. She was defeated by (Late) Purno Agitok Sangma of the Indian National Congress in both the years by a margin of 1,84,790 and 1,77,659 votes respectively.
This time the matrilineal Meghalaya is having two women candidates contesting the 18th Lok Sabha on 19th April 2024, Dr M Ampareen Lyngdoh from 1 Shillong Parliamentary Constituency, a constituency which has more than 6 Lakhs female voters and sitting MP, Agatha K Sangma from 2 Tura Parliamentary Constituency, a constituency which has around 4 lakhs female voters. It could be anybody’s game in both the constituencies but both women are campaigning vigorously.