Members in the Lok Sabha during a session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Monday.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: West Bengal led the way in electing the highest number of women candidates in the Lok Sabha elections held last year, with 11 securing parliamentary seats.
Out of 543 members, the present or the 18th Lok Sabha has as many as 74 women members.
Uttar Pradesh elected the highest number of male candidates, at 73.
While West Bengal sends 42 MPs to the lower house, Uttar Pradesh sends 80.
According to the Atlas-2024 released by the Election Commission on Wednesday, in terms of women participation, Maharashtra once again led the race with 111 female candidates contesting, followed by Uttar Pradesh (80) and Tamil Nadu (77).
As many as 152 constituencies across the country had no women candidates at all.
Certain states and Union Territories made significant strides in electing women candidates. Tripura and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (DNH and D&D) recorded a remarkable 50 per cent representation of women among their elected MPs.
Delhi followed with 28.6 per cent, Chhattisgarh at 27.3 per cent, and West Bengal at 26.2 per cent.
In the 2024 elections to the Lok Sabha, another interesting trend emerged for the second time in the history of India's elections -- the female voter participation rate (VTR) surpassed that of male voters at the national level.
The female voter turnout was 65.78 per cent as compared to 65.55 per cent for men.
The difference in participation between women and men stood at 0.23 per cent.