(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: Elections and Women Card

Topic: Elections and Women Card

Guest:

Chakshu Roy, (Head of Outreach, PRS Legislative Research)
Aditi Phadnis, (Political Editor, Business standard)
Pallavi Sharma (Congress Spokesperson)

Topic Description:

The biggest festival of democracy that is General Elections has begun in India and almost 50 per cent of the total 90 crore voters this time are women. The turnout of women voters has seen a rapid increase over the last few years with the highest being at 65.5 per cent in the previous Lok Sabha elections.

However the scenario is entirely different when we talk about political equality to women . According to a study conducted by Association of Democratic Reforms less than 10 per cent of the candidates who contested elections in the recent past are women . This is a far cry from the demand to give 33 per cent reservation to women in political parties and government.

For the General election this time, so far two regional parties have announced reservation for women in ticket distribution - Biju Janta Dal in Odisha has given 33 percent and Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has given 41.5 per cent of its tickets to women candidates . What does this move indicate and will it make other political parties open their doors for women at the same scale.