Kerala Assembly Elections 2026 | Half the voters, few the candidates: Women continue to lag in state's poll politics

Thiruvananthapuram: The promise of greater political space for women, amplified after the passing of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, appears distant in Kerala's April 9 Assembly elections, where candidate lists reflect a familiar pattern of underrepresentation.

Despite women accounting for more than half of the electorate in the state, their presence in the electoral fray remains limited, highlighting a persistent imbalance between participation and representation.

The enthusiasm that followed the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in Parliament in 2023 had raised expectations among women leaders across party lines.

President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Nari Shakti Vandan Bill in September 2023.

Though its implementation is slated for a later date, many had hoped that political parties would voluntarily increase women's representation in the current electoral cycle. However, the candidate lists of various parties suggest otherwise.

Across the state's 140 constituencies, the major political parties have fielded only a modest number of women candidates- CPI (M)-12, Congress (9), BJP (14), CPI (5) for the upcoming assembly polls.

Interestingly, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a prominent ally in the opposition UDF, has given two seats for women, for the first time in its history.

Congress MLA and candidate in the April 9 assembly polls, P C Vishnunath said the party leadership made sincere attempts to give more representation for women in the candidates list this time.

"In my personal opinion, capable women leaders should get electoral representation even without the support of any reservation or Act. But unfortunately, it is not happening every time as the leadership considers various factors, including winnability," he told PTI.

While the BJP claimed that the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam as evidence of the Modi government's care for women, the CPI(M) alleged the timing of the debate is a strategic move to attract voters ahead of the Assembly elections.

Senior CPI (M) leader and All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) national secretary P K Sreemathi expressed dismay over the lower number of seats being offered to women leaders by various political parties.

"The CPI (M) ensured 12 seats for women this time, and the LDF in total gave 18 seats for them. This is not at all enough. We have been making strong interventions to increase the seats of women. But we usually get only this much when the candidate list is prepared," she told PTI.

A former minister, she, however, said the situations in the CPI (M) and the LDF are better as they give more seats for women compared to other major parties.

Sreemathi also raised doubt in the Centre's move of making the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam a discussion point again at a time when assembly polls are all set to be held in five states.

"If they are not going to implement it now, why is the government speaking about it at this time? It is just to influence women in the poll-bound states," she alleged.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP and Mahila Congress state president Jebi Mather said reservation plays a key role in the enhanced participation of women in the civic polls.

"In Kerala the representation of women in LSGD elections is even up to 54 per cent. Otherwise, getting this much participation for women in an election is next to impossible. That is the reality," she told PTI.

Mather also said there is no idea when the Centre will actually implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, as the BJP-led government believes only in "headline management."

She, however, was reluctant to comment on anything about the lower number of seats given to women by the Congress in the April 9 assembly polls.

BJP Kasaragod district president and a candidate in assembly polls, M L Ashwini, however, said unlike the other parties, BJP-NDA gives reasonable representation to women during various formats of election and also in the leadership roles of the party.

"The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is the latest example of the pro-women stand being adopted by the BJP and Narendra Modi government. The former Congress-headed UPA government has done nothing like this for women," she claimed.

In Kerala, five district presidents of the party are women, Ashwini added.

Noted political analyst G Gopakumar said in spite of the demand for increased women's representation in the Assembly and in the Parliament, there is very little evidence of political parties providing space for them in the candidates' list.

"The continued patriarchy among the political leadership reminds us about the need for women reservation in the Parliament and in the state legislature. However, we cannot expect an organic transformation from the leaders of political parties," he told PTI.

In this circumstance, the Constitutional Amendment Bill, which has already been approved by the president, providing a 33 per cent reservation for women in the state legislature and in the Lok Sabha, has become an utmost necessity, he said.

Historical data also highlights the persistence of the imbalance. Since the formation of the Kerala Assembly in 1957, women's representation has never crossed the 10 per cent mark.

According to latest figures of the Election Commission, a total of 1,39,21,868 female voters are in Kerala while the number of male voters stand at 1,32,20,811.