Women comprise 5.5 percent of 288-member Maharashtra assembly

Mumbai, Oct 20: Barely 5.5 percent of the 288-member Maharashtra legislative assembly are women, according to an analysis of poll results on Monday.

Of the total 4,119 candidates, who contested in the Oct 15 election, only 276 women were in fray from mainstream political parties and a few Independents.

At the end of counting Sunday, only 16 (out of 276) were declared elected, all from the major parties.

Among the winners, 10 belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party while five are from the Congress and one from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Though the Shiv Sena, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and some other smaller parties nominated women candidates, they failed at the hustings.

The BJP's winning women brigade includes Pankaja Munde, the daughter of the late union minister Gopinath Munde, who won the Parli constituency and Madhuri Misal from Parvati seat.

Two BJP newcomers earned the tag of 'giant killers' in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

Vidya Thakur defeated Shiv Sena senior leader Subhash Desai from Goregaon, Mumbai and Manda Mhatre trounced NCP leader and former minister Ganesh Naik in Belapur, Navi Mumbai.

Besides, state BJP women's wing chief Manisha Chaudhari won in Dahisar and Bharti Lavhekar emerged victorious in Versova, both in Mumbai. Other winning BJP candidates are Sangeeta Thombre (Kaij), Medha Kulkarni (Kothrud), Monika Rajale (Shevgaon) and Snehalata Kolhe (Kopargaon).

From the Congress, former minister Varsha Gaikwad bagged the critical Dharavi seat in the heart of Mumbai.

Newcomer Ameeta Chavan, wife of former chief minister Ashok Chavan won from Bhokar (Nanded), Praniti (Sushilkumar) Shinde from Solapur Central, Yashomati Thakur from Teosa and Nirmala Gavit from Igatpuri.

NCP's Jyoti Kalani won from Ulhasnagar in Thane district.

In the Beed Lok Sabha by-election, BJP's Pritam Munde, the daughter of the late union minister, defeated her nearest Congress rival and Ashok S. Patil by a margin of over 696,321 votes, considered the highest in recent years.

IANS