Women power in Delhi polls: Know about ‘Nari shakti’ who could spoil the game

Improving security for women in the city and empowering them is one of the many promises during the election campaigning in Delhi, but when it comes to ticket distribution, all the major parties in the fray have fared poorly.

Out of a total of 673 candidates contesting the Assembly polls, only 63 are female candidates and what is most glaring is that the main parties-BJP, AAP and Congress have only fielded 19 women candidates. There are 13.3 million voters in Delhi, of whom 5.9 million are women.

The Bhartiya Janata Party which has declared former IPS officer Kiran Bedi its Chief Ministerial candidate has only fielded eight women candidates. Close to BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party has given ticket to six women candidates while Congress has fielded five.

In 2013 assembly elections, these three parties had given tickets to 17 female candidates out of which only three had won.

Let's have a look at the female candidates who could give tough fight to their male counterparts:

Kiran Bedi:
The former IPS officer is Chief Ministerial face of BJP. She will be fighting from Krishna Nagar constituency, a BJP stronghold. The constituency's voters are enthusiastic about Bedi with many of them fully supporting her in her bid to become Delhi' CM.

Media reports say that Krishna Nagar will be a cakewalk for the former IPS officer as both the opposition candidates from the seat are not that much very strong. The Congress has fielded Bansi Lal and Aam Aadmi Party SK Bagga.

Krishna Tirath:

Former UPA Cabinet minister and senior Congress leader Krishna Tirath has recently joined BJP. The prominent ‘dalit face' could help BJP gain support of dalits in the assembly election.

Tirath, who served as women child and development minister in the UPA Cabinet, has been given ticket from Patel Nagar constituency.

Ahead of Delhi assembly elections, this move may help the BJP garner support of dalit community, which is considered to be AAP bastion. Of the 12 reserved seats in Delhi, AAP won in 9 seats in the last assembly elections while the BJP won just two and Congress one.

Tirath, an MP from North West Delhi constituency in the 15th Lok Sabha, has a clear edge over her rivals from the Patel Nagar Assembly constituency. Tirath appears to be far ahead of her rivals in Patel Nagar, a reserved seat.

Nupur Sharma:

The BJP has fielded former DUSU president from high-profile New Delhi constituency against AAP's Arvind Kejriwal.
Riding high on the Modi wave, Nupur is giving a tough fight to Kejriwal, who himself proved to be a giant killer in the 2013 elections when he trounced three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Sharma, who is an LLM from the London School of Economics, is presently an office bearer in the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).

In an interview recently, the 30-year-old advocate said that she intends to be a part of national politics and has no fear about taking on Kejriwal.

Rajni Abbi:

The former mayor of Delhi, Rajni Abbi is fighting on BJP's ticket from Timarpur constituency.
Abbi, a Delhi University law professor lost the 2013 election from the same constituency to AAP candidate Harish Khanna by 3,000 votes.

Alka Lamba:

The Aam Aadmi Pary has fielded Lamba from Chandni Chowk constituency. Lamba, a former Congress leader joined AAP in 2013.

Lamba, 39, is a former president of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the Congress party's student wing. She had unsuccessfully contested assembly elections in 2003.

Sharmishtha Mukherjee

The eldest daughter of President Pranab Mukherjee is trying her luck from prestigious Greater Kailash constituency. She is fighting on Congress ticket against BJP's local corporator Rakesh Gulia and former AAP Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj.

Kiran Walia

Congress has pitted former Delhi minister Kiran Walia against AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal from prestigious New Delhi constituency. The New Delhi seat was held by Sheila Dikshit for three terms before she suffered a shock defeat against Kejriwal in 2013 elections.

Walia had been a minister in her government but faced defeat in the previous election.