Parties Yet To Walk The Talk On Women’s Reservation In Politics

-Madurai: Although legally sanctioned and politically celebrated, women’s representation in politics continues to have limited significance in practice; Party nominations for the 2026 Assembly elections reflect a clear gap between promise and performance.

The law, which was first implemented in 1996 and widely supported among parties, providing a 33 percent privilege for women in politics, took 27 long years to pass the Parliament and finally became law in 2023.

The law, known as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam and enacted by the One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth constitutional amendment, provides 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies.

However, the provision remains on paper for now, as it will come into force after a delimitation study based on a new census to be carried out after the law comes into force.

Even the parties that strongly opposed the postponement of the implementation of the law were inadequate in its implementation and did not give due importance to women in candidate selection.

DMK, which portrays itself as a defender of women’s rights, fielded 18 women from 164 constituencies in which it competed; this accounts for only 10.97 percent of the total nominations; The AIADMK, another Dravidian major, is no better; It is nominating 20 women, or 11.97 percent of the 167 seats it is running for.

The Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), like the two Dravidian majors, claims that Periyar, the symbol of women empowerment, as its ideological guide, reserved tickets for women in only 9.82 per cent of the seats it contested in its first elections; Among national parties, the BJP had 18.57 per cent women candidates, while the Congress limited women’s representation to 7.27 per cent.

Left parties that traditionally advocate gender equality also failed to meet expectations. While the CPI(M), contesting in five constituencies, fielded only one woman candidate, the CPI did not field any woman candidate.

VCK, which defends Dalit and women’s rights, fielded only two female candidates from the eight constituencies in which it competed, falling nearly 7 percentage points behind the 33 percent criterion stipulated in the law.

By contrast, Seeman-led NTK continues to stand out by consistently allocating 50 percent of its tickets to women since it first entered the election. In the upcoming elections, the party fielded women in 117 constituencies, surpassing even the legal criterion that has not yet been implemented.

This trend underscores a persistent disconnect between legislative intent and political practice and raises questions about the seriousness of parties in improving women’s representation in electoral politics.