Guwahati: BJP has fielded six women candidates this time, one less than number of female contenders from the party in the 2021 assembly polls.In 2021, of the seven nominated candidates, two had won.CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said all six are expected to win this time and underlined that by 2029, statutorily women will have 33% reservation, which would be 41 if BJP contests in all 126 seats. This time with BJP contesting in 89 seats, the women candidate representation is just 7%.“Nandita Gorlosa and Ajanta Neog won last assembly polls. I think this time, we will be able to go to six,” he added. Neog held the finance minister portfolio and Gorlosa was the sports and youth welfare minister in the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led state cabinet. Neog is the first woman finance minister of Assam.BJP has fielded Madhavi Das in the newly formed Birsing-Jarua constituency, while Jyotsna Kalita will contest from Chamaria, Nilima Devi from Mangaldai, Ajanta Neog from Golaghat and Niso Terangpi from Diphu (ST).Neog quit Congress and joined BJP in Dec 2020, about three months before the 2021 assembly elections. She has been representing the Golaghat assembly seat for the past five terms since 2001 — first four times on Congress ticket and on a BJP ticket in the 2021 election.“I am thankful to the party leadership, including PM Narendra Modi, union home minister Amit Shah, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and party president Dilip Saikia, for giving me the candidature again. I hope the people of Assam will support the party this election as well for the sake of all round development, which has already been taking place for the last 10 years,” Neog said.Only seven out of 93 candidates fielded by BJP in 2021 were women, while six out of 84 seats they contested in 2016 had female nominees. In 2016, the then CM Sarbananda Sonowal’s cabinet had only one female minister — Pramila Rani Brahma.It may be mentioned that according to the ECI data, just eight of 91 women candidates from all political parties, including BJP and Congress, won in 2016, and only six of 76 managed to enter the assembly in 2021.
