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Badlapur Sex Assault Accused Killed: Haryana is going to polls for its 90-member state assembly on October 5, Historical data shows that the state has elected only 87 women MLAs since it was carved out of Punjab in 1966. Among those 87 women, 47 were elected since 2000. Not only women MLAs, the state with a skewed sex ratio has never had a woman Chief Minister.

In recent assembly elections, in 2019, 104 women contested in the state and only 9 won. In 2014, a record 13 out of 116 women candidates were elected as MLAs. According to the latest NFHS-5 data 2019-2021, the child sex ratio in Haryana is 885 females per 1000 males. This is an improvement from 834 females per 1000 males in 2011 Census.

Though there is progress, the child sex ratio in Haryana is below the national average of 933 females per 1000 males. So there is still a lot of work to be done to address gender discrimination and ensure girls’ survival and development in the state.

While the ruling BJP has given tickets to 10 women, the main opposition Congress has fielded 12 women candidates, the highest among all parties. BSP and INLD alliance has together fielded 11 women, AAP has given tickets to 10 women among 90 candidates.

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The new alliance between Azad Samaj Party and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has named 8 women in 85 seats they are contesting.

According to a study by Ashoka University’s Triveni Centre for Political Data (TCPD) women’s representation has always been a concern in the state given the state’s history of social bias, crimes against women and poor performance in gender related metrics.

Arti Singh Rao - Daughter of Union Minister Inderjit Singh, she is contesting from Ateli on a BJP ticket.

Shruti Chaudhary - Grand daughter of former CM Bansi Lal, she switched from Congress to BJP and is contesting from Tosham.

Vinesh Phogat - The champion wrestler is contesting from Julana in Jind district on a Congress ticket. Phogat was the face of wrestlers’ protest against former Wrestling Federation of India Chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who the wrestlers accused of sexual harassment. She is up against AAP’s Kavita Dalal, first Indian woman to compete in WWE.

Savitri Jindal - She is Asia’s richest women and chairperson of OP Jindal Group. She rebelled against BJP to contest as an independent against Haryana minister and Hisar MLA Kamal Gupta. Savitri said she is contesting to fulfill the wish of people of her constituency Hisar.

Chitra Sarwara - she is contesting as an independent from Ambala Cantt seat against BJP’s Anil Vij - six time MLA and former home minister -and Parvinder Singh Pari of Congress.

Sarwara is the daughter of former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s aide Nirmal Singh. She contested 2019 election as an independent after Congress denied her ticket. She finished second with more than 44,000 votes.

Kidwai - fielded by AAP, she is first woman candidate from Nuh, a Muslim-dominated seat. She is grand daughter of Akhlaq-Ur-Rehman Kidwai, 13th governor of Haryana.

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Kumudni Rakesh Daultabad - she is contesting as an independent from Badshahpur, the largest constituency of Haryana. Her husband and former MLA of the seat Rakesh Daultabad passed away this year. He won 2019 election as an independent.

Women’s representation provides opportunities but Ashoka University study says women from well off backgrounds lead to concentration of power with already powerful political families.

A professor from the Central University of Haryana suggests that the state's politics is still rooted in patriarchy. "Tickets are allotted to women hailing from big political families only. It could be observed that it is also difficult for women to secure a victory when contesting independently or without strong political backing," she told news agency PTI.

"The same could be understood from the fact that there has been only one-woman Independent candidate, Shakuntla Bhagwaria, since 2000 until now to have won elections independently, in 2005," she added.

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