Summary of this article
Women are a decisive voting bloc in Assam, but they still make up a tiny share of candidates.
Parties continue to gatekeep tickets through male-dominated networks, even as they court women with welfare promises.
Of the 722 candidates in this election, only 59 are women
Women are a decisive voting bloc in Assam, but they still make up a tiny share of candidates.
Parties continue to allocate tickets through male-dominated networks, even as they court women with welfare promises.
Candidates like Ajanta Neog and Nandita Gorlosa show both the rarity of sustained women’s political careers and how easily even sitting women leaders can be dropped.
As Assam heads to the polls on April 9, women are everywhere in this election, and almost nowhere on the ballot.
Assam has about 2.5 crore voters, and roughly 1.25 crore of them are women. Women have also turned out in higher numbers than men in recent elections. Of the 722 candidates in this election, only 59 are women, down from 76 in 2021, a decline of 17 in a single cycle. In the outgoing Assembly, women hold just six of 126 seats, or about 4.8 per cent.
Researchers point to patriarchal social norms and entrenched value systems as key reasons for the low participation of women in Assam’s politics.
Dr Madhurima Goswami, Head of the Chandraprabha Saikiani Centre for Women’s Studies at Tezpur University, says the problem is deeply embedded in India’s political culture.
“Politics continues to be seen as a murky space, and if you look at the backgrounds of many male politicians and the basis on which they are chosen, it reflects a system that women are often reluctant to enter or be associated with. For a woman to succeed in politics, she has to be exceptionally strong, far more than her male counterparts, to withstand and navigate that environment.”
Why women lose out
Political parties often deny women tickets, citing “winnability”, despite evidence that women candidates can compete effectively when given a fair chance.
Candidate selection happens inside informal, male-dominated networks, limiting women’s access to leadership roles, resources, and local patronage. Winning a seat requires money, a local organisation, and years of groundwork within party structures that are largely built and run by men.
Women who lack a political family name or a party patron struggle to break through, regardless of their record. Even at the grassroots level, many women elected to local bodies are not treated as independent leaders but as stand-ins for male family members, with those men often continuing to shape or control their decisions.
“A mere tokenism exists, where we celebrate the success of some big politicians’ wives or relatives as the success of women in general, which is never true,” says Dr Goswami.
Who’s in, and who got dropped
The BJP has fielded six women candidates: Ajanta Neog (Golaghat), Nilima Devi (Mangaldai), Niso Terangpi (Diphu), Rupali Langthasa (Haflong), Madhavi Das (Birsing-Jarua), and Jyotishna Kalita (Chamaria). That is a marginal presence for a party whose welfare messaging is heavily directed at women.
Congress has done better, fielding 14 women — the most among major parties. They include Mira Borthakur Goswami (Dispur), Nandita Das (Hajo-Sualkuchi), Pallabi Saikia Gogoi (Teok), Pranati Phukan (Naharkatia), and Suruchi Roy (Ram Krishna Nagar). Mira Borthakur Goswami, president of the Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress, is contesting from Dispur, one of the most visible constituencies in the state.
The AIUDF has fielded two women candidates, while the AGP and the BPF have fielded one each.
The most prominent among them is Ajanta Neog, who is seeking her sixth consecutive term from Golaghat. First elected in 2001 as a Congress MLA, she joined the BJP in December 2020 and retained her seat in 2021. At 62, she is Assam’s Finance Minister, the first woman to hold the portfolio. Her mother, Rebati Das, was also a former MLA.
Another key contest is in Haflong. Gorlosa, the sitting MLA elected in 2021 on a BJP ticket, served in the Assam cabinet with portfolios including mines and minerals, and tribal faith and culture. She had built a strong support base in Dima Hasao. By most measures including incumbency, ministerial record, and local support, she appeared a strong candidate for re-nomination. Instead, the BJP dropped her.
The ticket was given to Rupali Langthasa, a 36-year-old first-time candidate and member of the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council. The decision was part of a broader attempt by the party to refresh its candidate list, but it carried sharper implications when the person replaced was a sitting minister.
Gorlosa resigned from the party, writing: “I am writing to formally submit my resignation from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party with immediate effect.” She joined Congress within days, with the party describing her as “a strong voice of Dima Hasao, consistently standing firm on her beliefs and principles, even at personal and political cost.”
In Kokrajhar, a similar pattern played out. The BPF fielded Sewli Mohilary, replacing veteran Pramila Rani Brahma, who had publicly said she wanted to contest her “last election.”
Welfare without representation
If women remain underrepresented as candidates, they are central to electoral strategy as beneficiaries. Both parties are competing aggressively for women’s votes through welfare schemes rather than representation.
The BJP has promised to expand the Orunodoi scheme and increase the monthly payout to ₹3,000. It has also promoted the “Lakhpati Didi” initiative as a marker of women’s economic empowerment. Congress has countered with a promise of an unconditional monthly cash transfer and ₹50,000 in financial support for women to start businesses.
When women hold fewer than five per cent of seats, policies affecting them, from land rights and labour protections in tea gardens to domestic violence laws and maternal health funding, are shaped almost entirely by men. Cash transfers, however significant, do not alter that imbalance.
“There is also a persistent patriarchal mindset. Many still find it difficult to accept women as leaders. Political parties, too, are hesitant to invest in women candidates, often assuming they may not be able to campaign as aggressively or devote the same amount of time, given the disproportionate domestic responsibilities women continue to shoulder,” says Dr Goswami.
However, even at the level of voters, social conditioning remains a barrier. “There are still instances where women defer to male family members on whether and how to vote. While this is changing, it shows how deeply embedded these structures remain,” she says.
At the same time, there are signs of change, she adds. A younger, more articulate generation is beginning to challenge these norms.
“We are seeing emerging figures like Kunki Chaudhary in Assam who represent a different kind of political voice. Women who break through have a crucial role in paving the way for others that is one of the most effective ways to challenge patriarchy.”
