Several women leaders in Maharashtra are contesting the Vidhan Sabha polls but in terms of numbers the representation has reduced. This time 235 women are contesting of which only 39 are from the four mainstream political parties - the BJP,  Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP. The BJP has fielded the maximum women candidates 17, followed by the Shiv Sena and the Congress, which have fielded eight each, and the NCP six.

In a city where politicians are earnestly vying for women’s votes who account for 46 per cent of Mumbai’s population, female participation in electoral politics remains abysmally low.

Of the total 334 candidates who will be fighting in the 36 Assembly seats of Mumbai, only 31 candidates are women, or just 9.3 per cent. Only 21 of the 36 Mumbai constituencies have a woman candidate.

As the voting for Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections draw close, Twitter India has launched several initiatives to provide real-time updates on campaign trail, working closely with political parties and leaders on how to leverage Twitter for citizen engagement, and is encouraging voters to have their voices heard during the #AssemblyElections2019 taking place.

#HerPoliticalJourney

On July 29th, 2019, Brookings India hosted Sonia Bhalotra for a Development Seminar on Women’s Political Participation and Development. She presented two co-authored papers, “Women Legislators and Economic Performance” (2018)[1] and “Maternal Mortality and Women’s Political Participation” (2018)[2]. The two discussants for the event were Atishi, leader of Aam Aadmi Party and a noted figure in the education sector, and Mudit Kapoor, Associate Professor of Economics at Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi Centre.

With a record 78 MPs, this election proved that female candidates can win.

Meet some first-timers without any political lineage to find out the odds they conquered on the way to Parliament.

RAMYA HARIDAS| CONGRESS

The newly-elected 17th Lok Sabha set the record with highest number of woman: 78 MPs. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, which was sworn-in on Thursday, in a largest-ever gathering, has only six women ministers in the government.

Three of these six women members of Parliament, only three have made it to PM Modi’s cabinet - Nirmala Sitharaman, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Smriti Irani.

Breaching a largely male bastion, India's new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday became the first woman in 48 years since then prime minister Indira Gandhi to hold charge of the key ministry.

Sitharaman, who became the first full-time woman defence minister in the first tenure of the BJP government, will also head the corporate affairs ministry in the new cabinet.