Women in Karnataka outnumber men in 17 of the 28 parliamentary constituencies as per the final electoral rolls, but political representation continues to be low. Although the number of women fielded by prominent political parties (BJP, Congress and JD-S) has gone up from four in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to eight this time, representation is still low when compared with the female voter population of 2.7 crore in the State.
While the Congress has fielded six women — Sowmya Reddy, Anjali Nimbalkar, Samyukta S. Patil, Priyanka Jharkiholi, Prabha Mallikarjun, and Geetha Shivrajkumar — the BJP has fielded incumbent MP Shobha Karandlaje and Gayatri Siddheshwar. The JD(S), which is in an alliance with the BJP, has not fielded any woman.
Women winners from Karnataka
After 15 years, two women candidates from Karnataka — Shobha Karandlaje from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru and Sumalatha Ambareesh from Mandya — made it to the Lok Sabha in 2019.
In 2004, Tejaswini Gowda had won as the Congress candidate from the erstwhile Kanakapura constituency against JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda, and Manorama Madhwaraj had won from Udupi on the BJP ticket.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Ms. Karandlaje was the only one to win a seat. Likewise, in the 2009 elections, J. Shantha from the BJP was the lone woman MP from Karnataka.
From Karnataka, the best representation of women in Parliament was in 1991 when three MPs were elected — Basavarajeshwari, D.K. Taradevi, and Chandraprabha Urs. The lowest representation was in 1990 and 1998 when no woman made it to Parliament from the State.
The first woman to be elected to the Lok Sabha from Karnataka was Sarojini Mahishi in 1962 when she won from Dharwad North Lok Sabha constituency. She was re-elected in 1967, 1971, and 1977.
The former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was elected from Chikkamagaluru in 1977.
