Unfair Representation to Fair Sex in Lok Sabha from Haryana

Although women had made a significant contribution in the development of Haryana during the period 1966-1977 through their role in the Green and the White Revolutions, they failed to enter the Lok Sabha from the State in the 1967 and 1971 parliamentary elections. This was primarily due to the failure of the major political parties—the Congress and Jan Sangh in 1967 and the Congress, Congress-O, Vishal Haryana Party and Jan Sangh in 1971—to field any woman candidate. It was only in 1977 that a woman candidate of the Janata Party, Chandrawati, who also happened to be the first Haryanavi woman to make it to the Vidhan Sabha in the 1954 elections to the Pepsu Vidhan Sabha, was able to enter the Lok Sabha from the Bhiwani parliamentary constituency by securing 67.62 per cent votes against her Congress rival, Bansi Lal, the former Chief Minister and then Union Defence Minister, who could get only 29.91 per cent votes. This happened mainly due to the impact of the strong anti-Congress wave caused by the excesses by the Emergency regime in general and in the implementation of the family planning programme in particular. But this very factor prevented the Congress candidate, Subhasini, daughter of the legendry Arya Samaj leader Bhagat Phool Singh, from entering the Lok Sabha from Sonepat as she could secure only 15.56 per cent votes against 80.96 per cent votes polled by her Janata Party rival, Mukhtiar Singh.

Chandrawati, however, lost in the 1980 Lok Sabha elections that she contested as a candidate of the Lok Dal, and was relegated to the third position securing only 21.41 per cent votes on account of the changed national and State level political scenes due to the political instability during the Janata phase (1997-79). Her rivals, Bansi Lal of the Congress-I and Balwant Rai Tayal of Janata Party, secured 41.81 and 31.05 per cent votes respectively. The Janata Party candidate, Sushma Swaraj, a sitting MLA and a Minister in the State Government, too failed to win from Karnal constituency due to the above factors and could secure 30.06 per cent votes against 36.05 per cent of the Congress-I candidate, Chiranji Lal Sharma.

No woman could win in the 1984 elections as well. Sushma Swaraj, who contested these as a candidate of the newly formed BJP, was relegated to the third position and could secure 15.34 per cent votes against the Congress-I candidate, Chiranji Lal Sharma, and the Congress -J candidate, Devi Singh, who obtained 48.67 and 29.18 per cent votes respectively. This happened because the support base of the BJP had been badly eroded by the sympathy wave for the Congress -I that followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

No woman could make it to Lok Sabha in 1989 election as well since Sushma Swaraj of the BJP-Janata Dal alliance lost once again to her old Congress-I rival, Chiranji Lal Sharma, due to the erosion in the support base of the BJP among the urban voters because of its participation in the Devi Lal-led Lok Dal-BJP Government in 1987-89. Hence she could obtain only 44.65 per cent votes against her Congress rival who got 46.11 per cent votes.

But Kumari Selja of the Congress-I was, however, able to make it to the Lok Sabha from Sirsa in the 1991 elections due to an anti-Chautala wave in the State. She obtained 33.50 per cent votes against 31.66 secured her SJP rival, Sushil Kumar Indora. She was again elected in the 1996 elections from Sirsa by securing 42.96 per cent votes against 28.15 per cent votes polled by rival, Het Ram of the Samata Party. It was the division of the anti-Congress votes among the Samata and the BJP candidates that enabled her to retain her seat. Her performance as a Deputy Minister in the Union Government also stood her in good stead. But the HLRD candidate, Kailasho Saini, President of the Zilla Parishad, lost in these elections to her HVP rival from Kurukshetra, Om Prakash Jindal, as she was no match to the resources of this well-known industrialist. She could get 29.99 per cent votes against 36.45 obtained by her HVP rival.

But she was able to make it to the Lok Sabha from Kurukshetra in 1998 by defeating Kuldeep Sharma of the Congress by securing 43.57 per cent again 25.07 percent of her rival. Her victory was made possible because of her hard work in the constituency on the one hand and the factionalism in the Congress on the other hand. But Kumari Selja of the Congress-I was defeated in 1998 from Sirsa and could secure 29.48 per cent votes against 42.33 per cent of the rival, Sushil Kumar Indora of the HLRD party, due to the sabotage of her election from within the party.

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The representation of women reached its peak in 1999 when the candidates of INLD-BJP alliance, Kailasho Saini and Sudha Yadav, were successful. Saini of the INLD once again won from Kurukshetra by getting 60.61 per cent votes against 25.07 per cent of the Congress-I candidate, O.P. Jindal, because the alliance had consolidated the anti-Congress votes, whereas Sudha Yadav, the widow of a Kargil martyr Commander Sukhbir Singh and BJP candidate from Mahendergarh, won not only due to the alliance but also owing to the Kargil factor. She secured 56.49 per cent votes against 37.81 per cent of her Inderjit Singh of the Congress-I.

Kumari Selja of the Congress-I was the sole woman candidate to make it to the Lok Sabha from Ambala in the 2004 elections; by riding the anti-Chautala wave she won by securing 48.99 per cent votes against her BJP rival and the sitting MP, Rattan Lal Kataria, who got 21.27 per cent votes. Sudha Yadav of the BJP, however, lost in Mahendergarh. She obtained 17.47 per cent votes against 42.24 per cent secured by her Congress-I rival, Inderjit Singh, son of the legendry Ahir leader, Rao Birendra Singh. Kailasho Saini did not contest as she was denied the party ticket to accommodate Abhey Chautala, younger son of the then Chief Minister and INLD supremo, O.P. Chautala.

In the 2009 elections, Selja of the Congress-I was elected from Ambala by polling 37.19 per cent votes against her BJP rival, Ratanlal Kataria, who got 35.50 per cent votes. Another woman candidate, Shruti Chaudhry, grand daughter of Bansi Lal, has been able to make it to the Lok Sabha from Bhiwani as a candidate of the Congress by securing 34.97 per cent votes against Ajay Chautala, son of O.P. Chautala and candidate of the INLD alliance, who could get only 28.60 per cent votes, whereas the third woman candidate, Sudha Yadav of the BJP, was relegated to the third position and could secure only 16.63 per cent votes against 36.83 per cent votes of the Congress-I candidate, Rao Inderjit Singh, and 25.6 per cent votes of Zakir Hussain, son of Tayab Hussain Chaudhary of Mewat and a candidate of the BSP. The victory of the Congress-I women candidates and defeat of the BJP women candidate in these elections could be ascribed to a pro-Congress wave in the State on account of the positive impact of the performance of the UPA Government at the Centre and the Congress-I Government in the State.

Thus we find that there was no representation of women in the Lok Sabha from Haryana in 1967, 1971, 1984 and 1989 parliamentary elections. It fluctuated between 10 to 20 per cent (one or two out of ten seats) in the remaining elections. The single most important determinant in this context has been the nomination of women candidates by the major political parties, particularly those parties that were better placed in a specific election due to the permutations and combinations of various factors and forces in their favour. There are two way-outs for ensuring fair representation to the fair sex—either the reservations be given to women through a constitutional amendment or it be made mandatory for the political parties under the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 to give at least thirtythree per cent tickets to women candidates.

The author, a former Professor of Political Science, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, is presently a Consultant, HIRD, Nilokheri.