Participation and Performance of Women in Indian Parliamentary Elections

The participation and performance of women in the political system is very low in Inda. The 73rd constitutional amendment has provided one-third reservation to women in Panchayati Raj system but women reservation bill to reserve seats in the parliament and state legislatures has not been passed by the Indian Government till date to give rights to this section of the society. The present study highlights the participation and performance of women in Lok Sabha by the national and regional political parties. The participation of women candidates in parliamentary elections was very low. However, the performance of women in some national parties, in comparison to regional parties, has increased marginally though less significant. The performance of women as independent candidate is not negligible and the people do not give more weightage to women who do not affiliate themselves to a political organization whether national or regional.