Delhi Election 2020: BJP, AAP and Congress are fielding more women — but only as an obligation

• The total women representation in the Delhi assembly elections is now at 34%, compared to 27% earlier.
  
• All the three major parties — Bharatiya Janata Party, Aam Aadmi Party, and Congress together fielded 24 female candidates, according to India Today.
  
• Congress has the highest share of women candidates at 10, followed by AAP which fielded nine candidates and BJP too gave tickets to five.
  
• The parties have just about breached the reservation as recommended in the Women’s reservation Bill 2008.
  
  

The number of women candidates contesting the upcoming Delhi Assembly Election increased by 5 candidates this year. That is a significant change as the total women representation is now at 34%, as compared to 27% earlier.

All the three major parties — Bharatiya Janata Party, Aam Aadmi Party, and Congress — together fielded 24 female candidates, according to India Today.

Congress has the highest share of women candidates at 10, followed by AAP which fielded nine candidates and BJP too gave tickets to five. But the parties have just about breached the reservation as recommended in the Women’s reservation Bill 2008. Though the bill hasn’t passed, several parties tried to keep up with its recommendations of reserving 33% of the candidature to women.

A bill which sought one-third reservation for women in the lower house of Parliament and all state assemblies — was passed by Rajya Sabha in 2010. This was stalled after it failed to get votes in the Lok Sabha. It has remained in the pending pile ever since.

In Lok Sabha Election 2019, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) also promised that they would allocate at least a third of tickets to women. Whereas, BJP and Congress failed to reserve seats for women in both Lok Sabha and state assembly though it was a part of their manifestos. The BJP fielded 12% women whereas Congress fielded 13.1% in the Lok Sabha election held last May.

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