Delhi Duel: Poor show got only three women tickets in BJP

New Delhi, Nov 19 (UNI) The fair sex is fuming as the BJP, which has gone to the extent of passing a resolution to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in the party, has fielded only three women candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections to be held on November 29.

But party sources said it allowed only three women candidates to contest because of the poor show put up by them earlier in three assembly elections -- in 1993, 1998 and 2003. In these three elections, the party fielded 15 women candidates, but only two could cross the finish line.

The saffron party does not have even a single woman member in the present Delhi Assembly.

In 1993, four women -- Purnima Sethi(Kalkaji), Kamla Chaudhary(Hastsal), Begum Khurshid(Matia Mahal) and Raj Rawat(Saket)-- were given tickets. But out of the four, only Purnima could carry the day and emerged victorious by more than 4,000 votes.

In 1998, the party fielded five women candidates -- Sushma Swaraj(Hauz Khas), Purnima Sethi(Kalkaji), Shashi Prabha Arya(Rajouri Garden), Jyotsna Aggarwal(Shahdara), and Sarvesh Sharma(Ghonda). But it was only Sushma who could finish first.

The party, in 2003, handed out tickets to six women candidates -- Poonam Azad(Gole Market), Purnima Sethi(Kalkaji), Monika Arora(Malviya Nagar), Aarti Mehra(Hauz Khas), Rajesh(Hastsal) and Kamla(Seemapuri). But all these candidates drew a blank and that is the reason the party remained little bit ''tight-fisted and frugal'' this time round while distributing tickets to women, they added.

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