8% of lawmakers in Guj are women: ADR

Ahmedabad: The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Sunday released an analysis of the lawmakers, both MPs and MLAs, and the representation of women to mark International Women's Day. According to the analysis, the overall representation of women MLAs in Gujarat is 8%, which is lower than the national average of 10%.Among the states, the highest representation is in Chhattisgarh, with 21%, as the state has 19 women MLAs out of 90. Other states with a percentage of women lawmakers higher than the national average include Tripura (15%), Jharkhand (15%), Haryana (14%), West Bengal (14%), Andhra Pradesh (13%), and Sikkim (13%), among others.Gujarat, however, featured in the report with two records. Nimuben Bambhaniya, MP from Bhavnagar, won with nearly 70% of vote share, the highest among the women MPs elected in the last Lok Sabha election. Poonam Madam from Jamnagar won with 59.6% of vote share, the 10th highest in India for women candidates.Likewise, the Limbayat constituency saw the fielding of eight women candidates, joint second highest with Nampalli in Telangana. The first rank was for Guntur West (Andhra Pradesh), with 12 women in the fray.The last state assembly in 2022 saw women's participation at 10% of total candidates. Among MLAs, Payal Kukrani from Naroda secured 71.49% vote share, the third highest among current women MLAs across India.