Sole woman candidate makes it to LS from TN

According to official statistics, there were 48 women candidates in the May 13 polls but only one of them made it to the Lower House of Parliament from Tamil Nadu compared to four out of 24 contestants in 2004.

The lone successful woman candidate this time was DMK candidate Helen Davidson, who defeated BJP candidate Pon Radhakrishnan by a margin of over 65,000 votes in Kanyakumari.

Interestingly, DMK has won the constituency for the first time.

However, the other DMK woman nominee, Gayatri Sridhar in Tiruvallur constituency lost to AIADMK candidate Dr S Venugopal.

BSP fielded the maximum number of five women candidates, including its state unit convenor Sivagami, who quit her IAS post to take the political plunge, among political parties.

Of the 48 women contestants, DMK and AIADMK nominated two each, BJP three, Congress one, actor Vijaykant led DMDK one, Pyramid Party of India two, the Humanist Party of India one, Lok Jan Shakti party three, BSP five, Samatha Party one and Rashtriya Samajwadi Party (1). The other 26 were independents.

Both the AIADMK women candidates Cynthia Pandian and Vairam Tamizharasi, who contested from Thoothukodi and Namakkal respectively, were defeated by a comfortable margin by their rival candidates.

The Congress fielded only one woman candidate -- Charubala Thondaiman -- in Tiruchirappali and she too failed.

North Chennai led the table among the constituencies with the maximum number of four women candidates.