Only 6 Women MLAs In 66 Years In Karnataka? What It Says About Gender Equality In Politics

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No matter what the sector is, women are breaking glass ceilings everywhere, especially the ones related to patriarchy. However, the road is long and they will probably have to fight many battles before they reach the equal pedestal in society.

When it comes to electoral politics, the lack of representation of women in recent years has sparked a debate. It has been a matter of growing concern in India, and Karnataka is no different.

In the last Karnataka Assembly election, which was held in 2018, out of the total of 224 seats, only 7 were won by women candidates, mention news reports. Due to the under-representation of females in politics, the policies get affected and it fails to reflect the needs and issues of women.

While Karnataka's capital Bengaluru is known for being cosmopolitan and reports related to innovation, development and especially empowerment make headlines, the reality is way different. In the past 66 years, this capital city has elected only 7 women MLAs to the Vidhana Soudha or the Legislative Assembly, of which three were elected to the Mysore Legislative Assembly in 1957.

According to the Election Commission of India, in the 2018 elections, 72.77 per cent of male voters and 71.08 per cent of women voters across 222 constituencies came out to vote in the single-phase polling. The total voter turnout in the state was 72.13 per cent.

Over five thousand (5,102) nominations were filed by 3,632 candidates for the Karnataka Assembly polls that is scheduled to happen on 10 May. Of the total number of nominations, 4,710 were filed by 3,327 male candidates and 391 by 304 female candidates; there was only one nomination in the 'other gender' category.

In the Karnataka Assembly, Bengaluru accounts for one-eighth of the seats and until 2018, has elected a total of 203 legislators. Nagarathnamma Hiremath, Lakshmidevi Ramanna, Grace Tucker, Pramila Nesargi, Shobha Karandlaje and Sowmya Reddy. In 66 years, these are the only women who have entered Vidhana Soudha after being elected from a Bengaluru seat.

This means, in Bengaluru, less than 5% elected in the past 66 years have been women. Data indicates that of the total 14 elections that have been fought since 1957, women were voted in only in 1978, 1994, 2008 and 2018. It also said that most of the females who were part of the electoral ring in Karnataka were either from small parties such as the All India Mahila Empowerment Party or contested as independents.