In 2023, the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in Parliament, which promised 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Assemblies. Although it has not been enacted into law yet, all parties have agreed to give representation to women. But it is surprising that in Bihar, the Congress and the BJP did not field a single woman candidate in the Lok Sabha election. Of the 40 Lok Sabha seats, the NDA gave tickets to only 10 per cent women, and the INDIA bloc had given tickets to only 15 per cent women. Similarly, in the Jharkhand Assembly election held last year, out of 81 seats, the NDA (BJP, AJSU, and JDU) gave tickets to 15 women, and the INDIA bloc (JMM, Congress, and RJD) gave tickets to only 10 women. That means only 18.5 per cent and 12.3 per cent of women were fielded by the two alliances. In Maharashtra’s 288 assembly seats, 10.1 per cent of the candidates were women from the INDIA bloc and nine per cent were from the NDA. In Delhi’s 70 Assembly seats, 7.1 per cent of the candidates were women from the BJP and 12.9 per cent from AAP.