Women In UP Assembly: Will Congress' 40% Ticket Promise Help Boost Women Headcount? Here Are Some Stats

Amid the announcement by Congress of giving 40% seats for women, numbers reveal that women have been seriously under-represented in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. See details below.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi interacts with dalit women during her election campaign, at Pure Atka-Hardoiya village on March 29, 2019 in Ayodhya, India. (File Photo/ Getty Images)

New Delhi: Congress has decided to give 40% of its tickets to women in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022. Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made the announcement while addressing a press conference from the party office in Lucknow today. This development from the Congress party has turned the attention to the problem of the under-representation of women in Uttar Pradesh's polity.

Numbers reveal that women who constitute 45% of the total population of Uttar Pradesh are being represented by just about 10% women inside the UP assembly. This is the highest ever in terms of total women MLA in UP's Assembly since independence. 

In the 2017 UP Assembly Elections, 40 women were elected as MLAs in 403-member UP Vidhan Sabha. From BJP and its ally, Apna Dal 35 women won, while Congress and BSP had two women winning MLA seats. SP, on the other hand, had one woman MLA. 

In 1985, 31 women MLAs were elected while 18 were elected in 1989. This number further dropped to 10 in 1991. Ironically in 2007, when Mayawati, a woman was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, only three women were elected in the UP Assembly. 

Let Us Take A Look At Some Statistics

Voters & Women in UP

Total Voters in UP – 14.61 Crore (14,61,34,603)

Male Voters – 7.90 Crore (7,90,70,809)

Female Voters – 6.70 Crore (6,70,55,997)

Women MLAs in 2017 - 40

BJP/ Apna Dal - 35

Congress – 2

Bahujan Samaj Party – 2

Samajwadi Party – 1

Women MPs in 2019 - 11

BJP – 8

Congress – 1

Bahujan Samaj Party – 1

Apna Dal - 1

Percentage Of Indian Women In Politics From UP

Women in Lok Sabha (Uttar Pradesh) – 11 (13.75%)

Women members in Vidhan Sabha (Uttar Pradesh) – 44 (10.91%)

Women members in Rajya Sabha (Uttar Pradesh) – 4 (12.90%)

Women members in the current Vidhan Parishad (Uttar Pradesh) – 3 (3%)

Women In District Panchayats

The numbers from District Panchayats show some positives. 56% of the total Presidents of District Panchayats in UP are women. District Panchayat elected women Presidents in 42 districts out of 75 in Uttar Pradesh. As only 25 seats were reserved for women, thus 17 women presidents were elected from unreserved seats.