Women Power in India’s 2024 Lok Sabha Election: A Snapshot
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections in India resulted in the election of 74 women Members of Parliament (MPs). This number is slightly lower than the 78 women elected in 2019 but significantly higher than the 22 women elected in 1952, the first general election after India gained independence. These 74 women now represent 13.63% of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament. This percentage remains below the 33% that will be required once the new Women’s Reservation Bill, which mandates one-third of seats for women, is fully implemented.
Historical Trends
Women’s representation in the Lok Sabha has slowly increased over the years. In the first election in 1952, women comprised only 4.41% of the Lower House. This increased to over 6% by the 1960s but dipped below 4% in 1971. The proportion of women crossed 10% in 2009 and peaked at 14.36% in 2019. Despite this progress, India lags behind other countries, with women constituting 46% of MPs in South Africa, 35% in the UK, and 29% in the US.
Party-wise Representation
In the 2024 elections, women MPs were elected from 14 different political parties in India. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the most women MPs with 31. This is followed by the Indian National Congress (Congress) with 13 women MPs and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with 11. Other parties with significant female representation include the Samajwadi Party (SP) with 5 women MPs, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) with 3, and both the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Janata Dal (United) with 2 women MPs each. The TMC has the highest proportion of women MPs among these parties, with 37.93% of their elected MPs being women.
Party-wise Representation
In 2024, women MPs come from 14 different political parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leads with 31 women MPs, followed by the Congress with 13 and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with 11. Other parties with significant female representation include the Samajwadi Party (SP) with 5, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) with 3, and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Janata Dal (United), both with 2 each. The TMC has the highest proportion of women MPs among these parties at 37.93%.
New Faces and Younger Representation
Out of the 74 women MPs elected, 43 are serving their first term in the Lok Sabha. This is a higher proportion of newcomers compared to the overall House (59% vs. 52%). The average age of the women MPs is 50 years, younger than the overall average age of 56. Additionally, 78% of these women MPs have completed undergraduate education, making them as educated as their male counterparts.
Candidate Composition and Prominent Women MPs
In the 2024 elections, out of 8,360 total candidates, about 10% were women. This is the highest proportion of female candidates in any Indian election to date, up from just 3% in 1957. Around 16% of BJP’s candidates were women, and 13% of Congress’s candidates were women, both higher than the overall average.
Some of the prominent women MPs in the 2024 Lok Sabha include Kumari Selja (Congress), Kangana Ranaut and Hema Malini (BJP), Dimple Yadav and Iqra Chaudhry (Samajwadi Party), Misa Bharti (RJD), Mahua Moitra (TMC), Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (DMK), and Supriya Sule (NCP). Among the youngest MPs are Priya Saroj (25) of the Samajwadi Party from Machhlishahr in Uttar Pradesh and Sanjana Jatav (25) from Bharatpur in Rajasthan, Shambhavi Choudhary (25) of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) from Bihar’s Samastipur constituency.
Women Outshine Men in Voter Participation
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections marked a historic moment for women’s overall participation in Indian politics. With a significant 65.79% voter turnout in 19 of the 36 states and Union Territories (UTs), women voters played a crucial role in this election. Although the overall voter turnout of 65.79% was slightly lower than in 2019, the data reveals that women outnumbered men in voter participation in numerous constituencies. Specifically, 204 parliamentary constituencies reported a higher turnout of female voters, and in the last three phases of voting, women’s turnout surpassed that of men, peaking at 64.7% compared to 63.1% for men in Phase 7.
It is significant to see the young generation participating actively in nation-building. Three young women candidates around the age of 25 are all set to become the youngest members of parliament.
Collated and re-reported from authoritative articles across various media outlets.
