Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Women comprise around 14% of the 18th Lok Sabha, with 74 female MPs elected in the 2024 general elections, data shows.Also Read | Delimitation decoded: What the Centre tried to do, why opposition shot it down & what happens nextThe women parliamentarians are spread across 14 parties, with 37 from the BJP-led ruling NDA and 35 from the Congress-led INDIA bloc, while one each belongs to the Shiromani Akali Dal and YSR Congress Party, which are not aligned with either of the two major alliances.As the largest party in the House with 240 members, the BJP also has the highest number of women MPs at 31, accounting for about 13% of its total strength. Among its allies, the JD(U) and LJP (Ram Vilas) have two women MPs each, while the TDP and Apna Dal (Soneylal) have one each.On the other side, the Congress has 13 female members out of a total strength of 99, followed by its allies Trinamool Congress (11 out of 29), Samajwadi Party (5 out of 37), and the DMK (3 out of 22). The INDIA bloc also includes one woman MP each from the NCP (SP), RJD, and JMM.Although third in absolute numbers, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has about 38% women among its Lok Sabha MPs — the highest proportion by a significant margin.The point was also emphasised by West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee — herself a former Lok Sabha member — in her reaction to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on Saturday.Also Read | ‘PM Modi’s address on women’s quota violated model code’: CPM, CPI write to Election Commission; flag use of state broadcasters“It is deeply unfortunate that the prime minister chose to mislead the nation rather than address it honestly. Let me put this on record. Trinamool Congress has always championed higher political representation for women. We have the highest proportion of female elected representatives in both Parliament and the state legislature. In the Lok Sabha, 37.9% of our elected members are women. In the Rajya Sabha, we have nominated 46% women members. The question of opposing Women’s Reservation does not arise and never has,” Banerjee, who faces assembly election in her home state on April 23 and 29, wrote on X.Also Read | ‘Cowardly, hypocritical and fork-tongued’: Mamata Banerjee hits back at PM Modi over women’s reservation billThe prime minister had spoken a day after the Women’s Reservation Bill failed to pass in the House, after being blocked by the Opposition. In his address, he blamed the Congress, TMC, DMK and Samajwadi Party for the bill’s defeat, describing them as “anti-women.”
