A representative image showing voting.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Raipur: Nineteen women candidates have been elected to the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly this time, six more than the tally in the 2018 state polls.
Of the newly-elected women members, 11 are from the Congress and eight from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The BJP on Sunday won the Chhattisgarh polls, bagging 54 of the 90 seats in the state assembly, while the Congress got 35 seats and the Gondwana Gantantra Party secured one seat.
In the 2018 state polls, 13 women lawmakers were elected, including 10 from the Congress and one each from the BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J).
Later, three more women candidates from the Congress were elected in bypolls (in Dantewada, Bhanupratappur and Khairagarh), which took the number of women members in the House to 16.
This time, the BJP and Congress fielded 15 and 18 women candidates, respectively. The JCC(J) fielded 11 women, BSP seven and the Aam Aadmi Party gave tickets to five women.
Eight women candidates of the BJP and 11 from the Congress won the state polls.
The newly-elected women members from the BJP are Union minister Renuka Singh (Bharatpur-Sonhat seat), MP Gomti Sai (Pathalgaon seat), former state minister Lata Usendi (Kondagaon), Bhavana Bohra (Pandariya), Lakshmi Rajwade (Bhatgaon ), Sakuntala Singh Porte (Pratappur), Udheshwari Paikra (Samri) and Raimuni Bhagat (Jashpur).
From the Congress, Anila Bhendia (Dondi-Lohara seat), Vidyawati Sidar (Lailunga), Uttari Ganpat Jangde (Sarangarh), Sheshraj Harbans (Pamgarh), Chaturi Nand (Saraipali), Kavita Pran Lahrey (Bilaigarh), Ambika Markam (Sihawa), Sangeeta Sinha (Sanjari-Balod), Yashoda Nilamber Verma (Khairagarh), Harshita Swami Baghel (Dongargarh) and Savitri Manoj Mandavi (Bhanupratappur) won the polls.
Out of these 11 newly-elected members of the Congress, Bhendia, Jangde, Sinha, Verma and Mandavi were members of the outgoing assembly.
A total 1,181 candidates, including 155 women and one transgender person, contested the state polls.
This time, there were 2,03,93,160 electors in the state, including 1,02,56,865 women and 1,01,35,543 men.
In the two-phase polling held last month, 78,12,631 women and 77,48,612 men exercised their franchise.
In 50 seats of the state, the number of women voters was more than men.
In 2018, only one woman MLA Ranjana Sahu (Dhamtari) from the BJP was elected to the state assembly.
The BJP re-nominated Sahu from Dhamtari seat this time but she lost to Congress' Onkar Sahu by a margin of 2,606 votes.
The Congress this time denied tickets to six incumbent women MLAs, while its sitting legislators Ambica Singh Deo (Baikunthpur) and Rashmi Ashish Singh (Takhatpur), who were re-nominated, suffered defeat.
JCC (J) sitting legislator Renu Jogi (Kota) and BSP's incumbent MLA Indu Banjare (Pamgarh) also lost their seats this time.