Women participation in Indian general elections

Women turnout during the General Elections in 2014 was 65.63 per cent as compared to 67.09 per cent turnout for men.

State-wise highest women voter turnout in 2014 election was in Lakshadweep at 88.42 per cent followed by Nagaland (87.49 per cent), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (85.71 per cent), Tripura (84.37 per cent) and Sikkim (83.88 per cent).

Talking about the cabinet ministers in Modi government, only 6 out of 26 cabinet ministers are women. The women ministers in Modi's cabinet are Uma bharti (Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation), Nirmala Sitharaman (Ministry Of Defense), Sushma Swaraj (External Affairs Minister), Maneka Gandhi (Women and Child Development Minister), Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Food Processing Industries Minister) and Smriti Zubin Irani (Minister of Textiles).

Women have representation in only 66 out of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, there are only 27 women members out of the total 245.

Women Reservation Bill aims to reserve 33 per cent of the seats in parliament and state assemblies. But the bill has not been passed since the last eight years and is one of the longest pending legislations in Indian parliament. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has promised to pass the bill if elected to power.

Since 1971, there has been a consistent increase in the number of women aspiring for a seat in the Lok Sabha. In 1971, ther were only two women candidates who contested the elections. In 2014, the number had increased to 55.