A record 40 women candidates have made it to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly this time making it the highest ever proportion of female members in the 403 member House.
All the major political parties together had fielded 96 women for the 403-member House.
The BJP and its junior partner Apna Dal, which swept the polls will see the highest number of 35 women representatives gracing treasury benches followed by two winners each in the BSP and the Congress.
One woman candidate from the Samajwadi Party has also been elected.
The BJP had given tickets to 43 women, the highest among all the parties.
In the previous elections in 2012, 35 women were elected, which was the earlier record.
According to Election Commission data, in the first UP assembly election after Independence in 1952, 20 women were elected. Even after that their presence in the House has remained insignificant.
In 1985 31 women were elected but the number fell to 18 in 1989, and further nosedived in 1991 to 10. In 1993, 14 women were elected, a number which increased to 20 in 1996 and 26 in 2002.
In 2007, however, their number fell to a mere three. Ironically, a woman (Mayawati) was the Leader of the House at that time.
This time, however, the number has gone up so much so that the Assembly can boast of having 10 per cent women representatives.
The BSP had fielded only 20 women candidates this whereas it had given 33 tickets to women in 2012. The SP-Congress alliance gave tickets to 33 women, of whom the SP had 22 and the Congress 11 candidates.
In 2012, SP had fielded 34 women candidates of whom 22 had won.
Among the prominent winners this time are Rani Garima Singh (Amethi), Swati Singh (Sarojininagar), Rita Bahuguna Joshi (Lucknow Cantt), Rani Pakshikla Singh (Bah)—all BJP, and Aradhana Misra 'Mona' (Rampur Khas) and Aditi Singh (Rae Bareli)—both Congress.
