|
Poll
pie share: Three
main fronts account for 10 % women representation
Biju Govind
Kochi, April
29: No party in Kerala is fair to the fair sex when it comes
to allocation of seats. And the Assembly polls this year are no
exception.
The mainline
parties — Congress, BJP and CPI(M) — known as advocates
of 33 per cent reservation for women, have again failed to practise
their preaching. Women have hardly found more than 10 per cent representation
in the candidates’ lists of the three main political formations
— UDF, LDF and NDA — in a state which has a sex ratio
of 1,058 women for 1,000 men.
Of 140 seats,
UDF has allotted just nine to women (about six per cent) while the
LDF has been a little more generous by giving 15 seats (more than
10 per cent). The BJP has allocated just 11 seats (about nine per
cent) to women out of 118 seats it’s contesting.
The Congress
allotted just eight seats out of the 88 seats. Its conservative
partner IUML has denied tickets to women, allegedly after pressure
from fundamentalist groups. All the 23 seats allotted to the IUML
are being contested by men. In the last elections, the IUML had
fielded Khamarunnisa Anwar from Kozhikode.
The male-centric
approach of the parties has drawn flak from several quarters. According
to M.C. Josephine, All-India Democratic Women’s Association
state president and CPI(M) state committee member, political parties
should change their mindset and take the initiative to encourage
women into politics.
‘‘Only
through a legislation can women enter major decision-making bodies,’’
said Josephine, who is also the chairman of the Women’s Development
Corporation.
All the Kerala
Congress outfits and splinter parties such as the CMP and RSP (B)
have not spared even one seat for women. Out of the five seats given
to the JSS, only K.R. Gouriamma figures in the list simply because
of her position in the party.
In the LDF,
the CPI(M) has given 10 seats to women, CPI has given two, while
the NCP, RSP and Kerala Congress (Joseph) one each. The CPI(M) has
fielded three Muslim women candidates in the state — K.K. Sajitha
in Aluva, Bindhu Ummar in Kazhakkuttam and E.K. Maleeha in Kondotty.
Senior Congress
leader K. Karunakaran’s daughter Padmaja Venugopal criticised
the party leadership for throwing to the winds the 20 per cent seat
reservation policy for women it had adopted at the Bangalore plenary
in February.
Leaders of
various political parties claim they have not deliberately sidelined
women. ‘‘The candidates were chosen mainly in accordance
with their performance in the party and their chances to win,’’
said KPCC president Thennala Balakrishna Pillai.
|
