GUWAHATI, April 10 - Of the total of 145 candidates in the fray for elections to the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State, only 14 are women. Thus, their number is less than 10 per cent, according to records provided by the office of the State electoral officer.
Only one constituency out of the five going to polls in phase-I has one or more women in the fray. There are two woman candidates in Jorhat.
The Congress has put the highest number of female candidates by fielding two contenders, including one sitting MP, while the BJP and its ruling ally Bodoland People�s Front (BPF) have given party ticket to one woman each.
The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which is also a part of the BJP-led coalition government in the State, has not fielded any woman candidate.
The Guwahati constituency has the highest number of female candidates with five women in the fray for the seat, while Barpeta, Silchar and Jorhat have two woman candidates each.
In the outgoing Lok Sabha, there were two woman representatives from the State. The BJP has nominated Queen Oja is place of its sitting MP Bijoya Chakravarty from Guwahati. Congress�s Sushmita Dev is vying to retain the Silchar seat. Dev is also the president of the All India Mahila Congress.
Out of total 2,19,91,112 voters in the 2019 general elections, females account for 1,07,55,492 or 48.9 per cent.
In the last Lok Sabha elections, there were 16 woman candidates in the fray, and two of them went on to win their seats.
