Karnataka Election 2023: Doesn't Matter Which Party Wins, Women Have Always Lost Out

Karnataka Election 2023: Every major political party — BJP, Congress, and JD(S) — has failed to give proper representation to women. Here's how Karnataka has voted in every poll when it came to women.

In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the lack of women's representation in electoral politics in India, and Karnataka is no exception. In the last Karnataka Assembly election, held in 2018, out of the total of 224 seats, only 7 were won by women candidates. The under-representation of women in politics is a seen as a matter of concern, as it undermines the principles of democracy and results in policies that do not reflect the needs and issues of women.

Earlier in April, the BJP's Mahila Morcha president Vanathi Srinivasan said the party is focusing on women's welfare and that 50% of the beneficiaries of government schemes were women. Not wanting to be left behind, Congress's Rahul Gandhi announced free public bus commute for women and Rs 2,000 per month aid to every woman head of a family. The JD(S), too, raced to woo women voters by announcing loan waivers for self-help groups run by women, and Rs 6,000 allowance for pregnant women for six months. Former CM HD Kumaraswamy's party further assured a hike of Rs 1,600 to the widows' pension amount over the existing Rs 900.

However, despite the tall promises that will cost the exchequer crores, irrespective of the party coming to power, the focus seems to be lacking when it comes to empowering women by electing them to the state assembly.

WOMEN'S REPRESENTATION BY MAJOR PARTIES IN LAST TWO ELECTIONS

This year, there are a total of 185 candidates out of the total 2,613 contenders. This is a significant drop from the 219 women, contesting the elections in 2018 — the Congress fielded 15 women candidates, the BJP put forth 6 contenders, and the JDS fielded only 4.

In 2013, 175 women contested the polls. The BJP, the Congress, and the JDS had fielded 25 candidates in total. As many as 159 candidates lost their deposits that year. While six candidates made it to the assembly, just two managed to enter the Cabinet.

HOW ARE WOMEN BEING REPRESENTED IN KARNATAKA ELECTION 2023?

For the upcoming elections, while the BJP and the JDS have marginally increased the number of women candidates, the Congress, after all its claims of focusing on women, decreased their number. Overall, the women's representation by the three largest parties is less than 5%.

The BJP, which promised to have the Women's Representation Bill in Lok Sabha in its General Election manifestos in 2014 and 2019, doesn't seem too keen to walk the talk. It has fielded only 12 women candidates in the 224 constituencies in Karnataka.

No better is JD(S). While the party's president and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to ensure passage of the bill before the Lok Sabha polls next year, JD(S) gave tickets to only 13 women. The only defence, a weak one at that, for both these parties is, perhaps, that they have fielded more women this year than 2018.

Ironically, the bill was introduced as the 81st Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha in 1996 by HD Deve Gowda and was reintroduced (after its expiry) by Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government in 1998.

The Congress, despite its tall claims of focusing fully on women, doesn't have any defence since it lowered its number of women contestants to just 11. The party, which introduced the Bill in the Rajya Sabha and passed it in 2010 with 186 votes, failed to bring it up for discussion in Lok Sabha, which resulted in its expiry in 2014. Even in March this year, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh sought to claim credit for supporting the Bill, which stipulates 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state legislatures.

HOW DOES KARNATAKA VOTE WHEN IT COMES TO WOMEN?

Karnataka, which has a literacy rate of 75.36% (2011 census), has an especially poor record of electing women. While the 17th Lok Sabha elections gave the country the highest number of women MPs, Karnataka still seems to be lagging behind when it comes to women representatives. The state has never elected women in double digits, save for three occasions: 1957 (Mysore Legislative Assembly Election), 1962, and 1989.

In 1957, the erstwhile state of Mysore sent 13 women to the assembly. The next polls in 1962 saw even more women getting elected — 18. But since then, it has been a straight tumble for women candidates. The 1989 election saw a marginal rise in the number of women winners at 10, but that was about it.

Here are the statistics of women winners since India became a Republic and the first assembly election was held in what we know as Karnataka today.

COORG ASSEMBLY ELECTION

1952: 0 women candidates

MYSORE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS

1952: 3 winners
1957: 13 winners out of 24 candidates
1962: 18 winners out of 30 candidates
1967: 5 winners out of 9 candidates
1972: 0 winners out of 24 candidates

KARNATAKA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS

1978: 8 winners out of 30 candidates
1983: 1 winner out of 34 candidates
1985: 8 winners out of 108 candidates
1989: 10 winners out of 78 candidates
1994: 7 winners out of 117 candidates
1999: 6 winners out of 62 candidates
2004: 6 winners out of 101 candidates
2008: 3 winners out of 107 candidates
2013: 6 winners out of 175 candidates
2018: 7 winners out of 219 candidates

Total: 102 women candidates have won elections till that among the total 1,114 contestants of the same gender. 

The low figures come despite nearly 50% of the electorate being women. Even on the General Elections front, Karnataka's statistics have been abysmally low when it comes to sending women to Lok Sabha. Since 1952, the state has sent only 13 women to the Lower House.