State Polls See An Uptick In Women MLAs

There is a rise in the number of women elected to the state legislatures in 2023 compared to 2018, except in Rajasthan.

More women were elected to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram assemblies on December 3, 2023 than in 2018 after the election results were declared in the four states.

While 46 per cent of legislators retained their seats in those four states and Rajasthan, of the 57 legislators, who switched sides, only 21 emerged victorious.

Here is what the data says about the key elections.

Of the 572 sitting MLAs re-contesting polls in five states, just 46 per cent retained their seats.

Re-contesting candidates comprised less than a tenth of all candidates in MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

While 53 per cent of the 192 re-contesting candidates won in Madhya Pradesh, 42 per cent of the 173 candidates triumphed in Rajasthan.

And, about a third of the re-contesting candidates won in Chhattisgarh and Telangana each. In Mizoram, out of the total 174, 34 re-contesting candidates won.

A total of 99 candidates in Rajasthan, 49 in Chhattisgarh, and six in Telangana re-contested on a Congress ticket, whereas about 60 candidates in Rajasthan, 12 in Chhattisgarh and three in Telangana were from the BJP.

Only one re-contesting candidate from the BJP and Congress each won in Mizoram.

In Mizoram, all the re-contesting candidates of the Zoram People's Movement won, while 25 out of 90 re-contesting candidates from Bharat Rashtra Samithi secured wins in Telangana.

Over half of the 57 turncoat MLAs lost the polls. About 56 per cent of the BJP candidates, who changed their political allegiance, won as against 41 per cent from the Congress and 14.3 per cent from the BRS.

The vote margin of all victorious BJP candidates was 9.5 per cent. Those who lost, did so by a margin of 7.6 per cent.

Defectors to the Congress won by a margin of 5.6 per cent and those who lost had 12.8 per cent.

Rajasthan had the most turncoat MLAs and about 64 per cent of them lost.

There is a rise in the number of women elected to the state legislatures in 2023 compared to 2018, except in Rajasthan.

More than 800 women contested the polls, of which just 10 per cent won. Women won 21 per cent of the seats in Chhattisgarh in 2023, compared to 14 per cent in 2018.

In comparison, women will now make up 12 per cent of the state legislature in Madhya Pradesh and 8 per cent in Telangana and Mizoram each.

In a first for Mizoram, three women MLAs were elected to its assembly.

In contrast, women in Rajasthan will account for 10 per cent of all seats compared to 12 per cent in 2018.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com