BJP struggling to find female candidates in Bengal
The Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is encountering challenges in selecting 12 to 14 female candidates for the state’s 42 parliamentary seats, in line with the party’s goal of having women as approximately one-third of the candidates in most states for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The move to nominate more women candidates across the country by all parties comes in the wake of the successful passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament during a special parliamentary session last year.
While the bill, already signed by the President, awaits implementation until after the completion of the census and delimitation processes, the BJP is eager to enhance women’s representation in the upcoming general elections.
Currently, the party has two female MPs from Bengal—Debasree Chowdhury (Raiganj) and Locket Chatterjee (Hooghly).
The ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal had set an example in the 2019 general elections by fielding women in nearly half of the seats of the state.
BJP doesn’t have too many women members who have acceptance throughout the state, Roopa Ganguly (former Rajya Sabha MP), Locket Chatterjee and Agnimitra Paul (Asansol South MLA, also fought against Shatrughan Sinha in the by-election to the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency in 2022) being among the few.
Some others have gained prominence over the last few years: There is Priyanka Tibrewal, a lawyer by profession, who fought against Mamata Banerjee in the by-election to the Bhabanipur assembly seat in 2021, and Keya Ghosh, a prominent women’s wing leader and frequenter on television debates, who also fought against Babul Supriyo in the by-election to the Ballygunge assembly seat in 2022.
The saffron camp is facing humongous barriers in its pursuit of matching the Trinamool Congress in female representation.
