Key Takeaways
- The Maharashtra Assembly has seen 461 women MLAs elected since 1957.
- Women voters make up almost 50% of the total number of voters in Maharashtra.
- The percentage of women voting in the 2014 assembly elections was 61.69.
Mumbai: Altogether 461 women have been elected to the Maharashtra Assembly since its establishment in 1957, the Election Commission said on Sunday.
Women’s struggle for the right to vote has been a long-standing issue in many countries, including Britain, America, and others, for over 150 years. They have finally achieved this right.
According to the 2011 census, there are 929 women for every 1000 men (Gender Ratio) in India. As against that, in 2019, the number of women on the electoral roll for every 100 men was 925. Special campaigns for women voter registration were carried out to increase the number, and thus, the number improved significantly to 936 in 2024.
Total 9,70,25,119 voters have been registered in Maharashtra for the Vidhan Sabha General Election – 2024.
Of them, male voters number 5,22,00739 and female voters are 4,69,96,279. It denotes the percentage of women voters is almost 50 percent of the total number of voters. In various districts of the state, the female voters outnumber male voters in some areas.
The November 20 elections will see the formation of the 15th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. In the 14th Assembly, the number of women legislators was 27.
The first Maharashtra Legislative Assembly had its tenure from 1957 to 1962. The number of women MLAs in the first Assembly was 30.
During the term of the second Legislative Assembly from 1962 to 1967, the number of women MLAs was 17, which dropped to 12 during the third Assembly from1967 to 1972.
In the fourth Legislative Assembly from 1972-78, 28 women MLAs attended the House, while in the fifth there were only 8 women MLAs. In the sixth, seventh and eighths Assembly, the number of women members was 20, 16 and 6 in the sixth, seventh and 8eighth legislative Assemblies till 1990-95.
The ninth assembly (1995-19990 had 14 women MLAs, one more than their number in the 10th Legislative Assembly (1999-2004). A dozen women were election to the 11th Assembly (2004-2009), while the 12th Assembly had 13 women MLAs, the 13th had 22.
Among the women MLAs, seven were independents.
The percentage of women voting in the 2014 assembly elections was 61.69. In 2019, the number of women voters was 4,27,05,777. The total voter turnout in the 2019 assembly elections was 61.1%, while the female voter percentage was 59.26% and the male voter percentage was 62.77%. That means male voting was three and a half percentage points higher than female voting percentage.
Voting for the Maharashtra Assembly elections will be held on November 20. A total of 4136 candidates including 3771 male candidates and 363 female candidates, are participating in this election, who will complete the voting process in a single phase for this assembly across Maharashtra.
