A year and a half ago, political parties fought for recognition of the Women’s Reservation Bill, which almost unanimously gave women the right to one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Women politicians continue to receive a raw deal because the parties do not seem to be very generous in nominating them for the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Odisha, even though it is likely to be implemented in the polls of 2029.
Based on the candidate lists made public by the BJD and BJP so far, it seems that the latter has nominated only twenty percent of women (four out of twenty-one Lok Sabha seats). In its first list of 15 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, BJD has 26% female representation. The candidates’ list for Congress has not yet been made public.
The BJP and Congress have not yet announced their candidates for the Assembly elections, despite the regional group fielding just 16% of women candidates in almost half of the 147 Assembly constituencies. The BJD’s first list of 72 candidates for the Assembly votes includes only 12 women.
Parties are reluctant to cede political power, despite having poured poll sops and promised women the moon before the elections. Odisha, like many other regions of the nation, is firmly rooted in patriarchal traditions that often prevent women from participating in politics.
In order to preserve the current power structure, BJD has prioritized women above their male counterparts in this election. This may be a calculated move to increase the number of votes cast in favor of gender parity rather than diversity. In place of their spouses, who either won or finished second in the 2019 Assembly elections, it has nominated four women.
The unwillingness of political parties to nominate women, according to political observers, exposes the discrepancy between words and deeds when it comes to advancing gender equality in politics. They said that BJD, which led a national campaign and visited state chief ministers to garner support for the measure, should have at least set an example by nominating 33% of women in the concurrent elections.
Jagadanand, a prominent member of civil society and a former state information commissioner, said that political parties should start walking the talk rather than just claiming to be the ones who passed the reservation law. He said that “promoting inclusive and representative governance requires addressing the underlying causes of this reluctance and taking proactive steps to enhance women’s representation.”
But according to Gyan Ranjan Swain, a professor of political science, women who are nominated by parties are mostly dynasties. The reserve measure can’t encourage political dynasties. It is recommended that political parties implement gender-sensitive candidate selection procedures that provide equal weight to the representation of women in all spheres of administration. He went on to say that attempts should be made to find and assist capable female leaders inside the party.