A total of 189 women candidates, including 23 from the Bhartiya Janta Party and 27 from the Indian National Congress are in the fray for the upcoming Rajasthan assembly elections. This is the highest number of women in the electoral fray in the state in the last 10 years.
After at least 579 candidates withdrawing their nominations on Thursday, November 22, a total 2,873 candidates have been left in the fray including 189 women contesting across 200 seats in India’s largest state.
The ruling BJP with a women CM has fielded sitting MLAs Anita Bhadel, Kiran Maheshwari, Anita Singh, Sushil Kanwar, Manju Baghmar, Kamsa, Suryakanta Vyas and chief minister Vasundhara Raje, among others.
While for the opposition camp, Congress has fielded sitting MLA Shakuntala Rawat, former Union minister Girija Vyas, discus thrower and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Krishna Poonia, former MLA Zahida Khan in the electoral race.
In the state’s first assembly elections in 1952, only four women contested, compared to that there has been a nearly 50-fold increase in the number of female candidates.
It is also the highest number of women candidates contesting in the last 10 years with 69 in 1998, 118 in 2003, 154 in 2008 and 166 in 2013.
The state will poll on December 7 for electing new assembly, while counting will take place along with other state assembly elections on December 11.