Women in Politics: A Shift in Delhi's Assembly Elections

In the recent Delhi Assembly elections, only five women, including outgoing Chief Minister Atishi, won. This marks a decline from eight in 2020. Despite a decrease in the overall number of women winners, parties fielded more female candidates this time. BJP reclaims power after 26 years.

In a surprising turn of events, only five women candidates, including outgoing Chief Minister Atishi, secured victory in the recent Delhi Assembly elections. This represents a decline from the eight women who triumphed in 2020. Atishi, a prominent figure in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), retained her Kalkaji seat by overcoming the BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri with a slim margin of 3,521 votes.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saw four of its women candidates emerge victorious: Rekha Gupta from Shalimar Bagh, Poonam Sharma from Wazirpur, Neelam Pahelwan from Najafgarh, and Shikha Roy from Greater Kailash. Among the three principal political parties, the BJP and AAP each fielded nine female candidates, while the Congress presented seven.

The election featured a total of 699 candidates, of which 96 were women. Despite more women being nominated than in the 2020 elections, fewer won this time around. The BJP's decisive return to power in Delhi—a first in over 26 years—was attributed to a hyper-localised campaign and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aggressive AAP-disruptive strategy.