16th Lok Sabha: India Witnesses Highest Number of Women MPs

BANGALORE: The new Lok Sabha, with 61 women MPs will have the largest number of women lawmakers. This is the highest ever number of seats won by women ever and comprises 11.23 per cent of the total 543 seats, reports news.webindia123.

However, this is only slightly up from the 59 women elected to outgoing Lok Sabha when 89 percent of seats are being represented by men. "Of the 543 MPs elected, 61 are women. This is the highest number of women MPs elected to the Lok Sabha in the history of the country, although by a small margin," said??as reported by PRS Legislative Research.

The figure is a far cry from the 33 percent mark that Women's Reservation Bill seeks to implement. The Bill is pending in Lok Sabha after being passed in the Upper House of Parliament.

Some of the prominent women winners are Congress President Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, leader of opposition in the outgoing Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and actor Kirron Kher from Chandigarh.

Coming to states wise figure, West Bengal had the largest tally of women winners at 13. The number of women members in 2004 was 45, and in 1999 it was 49. The least number of women in the Lok Sabha was 22 in 1957, according to PRS.

(With Agency Inputs)