Five p c representation for women in Kerala Assembly

Thiruvananthapuram, May 11 (UNI) In a state where they outnumber men in both population and electoral rolls, women have only managed to get a mere five per cent representation, winning seven of the 140 seats in Kerala Assembly.

It is their lowest representation in the past two decades as there were nine women in the eleventh, 13 in tenth, eight in ninth and eight in eighth Legislative Assemblies.

In the 12th Legislative Assembly, the results of which were announced today, only seven out of the total women candidates won the elections.

Even among the winners, it was the Left Democratic Front women, who could make it to the Assembly even as all the United Democratic Front women candidates tasted defeat.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Central Committee member P K Sreemathy topped the women candidates, winning the Payannur seat by a margin of 36,122 votes over her rival K Surendran of the Congress. Her party colleague K K Lathika from Meppayur had a winning margin of 15,887 over the UDF candidate T T Ismail.

Ms Aisha Potti (CPI-M) won the credit of defeating seven time Legislator and former Minister K Balakrishna Pillai of the Kerala Congress (B) from Kottarakara. She defeated Mr Pillai by a huge margin of 12,087 votes.

Ms E S Bijimol (CPI) from Peerumede, K K Shylaja (CPI-M) from Peravoor, K S Saleekha (CPI-M) from Sreekrishnapuram and J Arundhathi (CPI-M) from Vamanapuram, were among the 11 LDF women candidates who made it to the 12th Assembly.

All the seven women candidates fielded by the Congress sufferred a humiliating defeat. The major upset to the UDF camp was the defeat of Agriculture Minister K R Gouri. Already having the distinction of being the longest serving member of the state Assembly, the 86-year old leader of the Janathipathya Samrakshana Samiti (JSS), a constituent of the UDF, was defeated from her home turf Aroor by CPI-M debutant A M Arif by a margin of 4,753 votes. After winning the Aroor constituency in 1965 for the first time, she continued to represent it till 1977. She lost in 1977 but avenged her defeat from the constituency in 1980 and ever since she has never tasted defeat from there.

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