Only 10.2% women fielded in 20 Assembly polls since passage of women’s Bill in 2023: report

Since the passage of the women’s reservation Bill in 2023, Assembly polls have been held in 20 States and Union Territories (UTs) and out of a total of 31,429 candidates who contested these elections, only 3,273 (10.2%) women were fielded by political parties. The proportion of women candidates did not exceed 14% across these States and U.T.s, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The women’s reservation Bill as passed mandates that 33% seats be reserved for women.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, which were held months after the passage of the women’s reservation Bill in 2023, out of a total of 8,360 candidates analysed, only 800 (9.6%) were women and 152 (28%) out of 543 constituencies had zero women candidates, the report said.

State Assemblies which had the highest number of women candidates were Odisha (2024) at 13.9%, followed by Delhi (2025) 13.7% and closely followed by Puducherry (2026) 13.6%.

Arunachal Pradesh (2024) and Jammu and Kashmir (2024) recorded the lowest participation of women candidates, with women constituting only 4.9% of the total contesting candidates.

As far as the Lok Sabha polls were concerned, no political party met the one-third (33%) benchmark for women candidates in the 2024 general election.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC) fielded women candidates in the range of 13%-16%, several State parties recorded substantially higher levels of female representation. These included Naam Tamilar Katchi (50%), Biju Janata Dal (33%), Rashtriya Janata Dal (29%), and All India Trinamool Congress (25%).

In the 20 Assembly polls held since the passage of the Bill, among the national parties, the INC fielded 33% women candidates only in the Sikkim Assembly election.

Among the State parties, Naam Tamilar Katchi contested the Puducherry and Tamil Nadu Assembly elections and fielded 50% women candidates in both elections. In addition, CPI(ML)(L) fielded 56% women candidates in the West Bengal Assembly election and 33% in the Assam Assembly election.

Samajwadi Party fielded 40% women candidates in Rajasthan Assembly election. Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) fielded 50% women candidates in the Puducherry Assembly election, while the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party allotted 50% of its tickets to women candidates in the Delhi Assembly election.