Voters send 23 women out of 287 in fray

Women candidates seem to have failed to attract voters in Maharashtra, Chandigarh and Arunachal Pradesh as their tally in the legislatures settled at a low of 23.

Out of the 287 women in the fray, only 23 were victorious, while the combined figure was also 23 in these states in the previous polls.

While, 11 out of 211 women contestants won elections in Maharashtra, 9 out of 67 made it to the 90-seat Haryana assembly. In Arunachal Pradesh, they fared better as three of the nine contested emerged victorious.

In Maharashtra, where only 36 women candidates were party nominees, 11 won the polls -- one down from 2004 poll's tally. A total of 157 women were in the fray then and 127 women candidates had forfeited their deposits.

While the Congress fielded only 12 women candidates of the total 167 party contestants, its alliance partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) fielded six women in its list of 114 candidates.

The saffron combine of Shiv Sena and BJP had given tickets to eight women each.

In the 1990 elections, out of a total 147 women contestants only six had won, while 11 became victorious in 1995 from 247 candidates.

In Haryana, yesterday's verdict brought cheers for only nine women candidates, seven from Congress and one each from BJP and INLD, though 67 were in the fray. The number was 13 in 2005 polls when 60 women fought the elections.

However, the Arunachal Pradesh assembly, which had zero representation of women MLAs last time, will have three women legislators this time.