Congress leader Shashi Tharoor (File photo)
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday strongly backed greater women’s representation in elections when asked about fellow colleague Shama Mohamed complaining about the low number of tickets allotted to women candidates for the Kerala Assembly polls.Acknowledging the dearth of women’s representation in proportion to the population, the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha MP highlighted the need for women’s reservation.He was also asked about fellow Congress leader Shama Mohamed’s post on X on Friday on the low number of tickets being given to women candidates.”I have been for some time very much in favour of greater women’s representation,” Tharoor told news agency PTI.
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The Congress leader, however, listed out the possibilities that determine ticket distribution ahead of the polls, one of which he said would have been the “winnability” factor.”And I’m sorry to say, I do agree that when women are half the population, that they get only 9.8 per cent of the seats is not fair. But again, those who made these decisions, and I’m not one of them, I’m not part of the selection process for candidates, but all I can say is that those who’ve done that must have taken all factors into account. And they claim that ultimately they were guided by winnability and that’s a principal thing,” Tharoor said.He further said that once women’s reservation comes into force, it would provide a “fair opportunity to more hard-working women leaders”.”But when women’s reservation comes, I think that’ll be an end to these debates and we will see a fair opportunity to more hard-working women leaders,” he added.Congress leader Shama Mohamed on Friday raised concerns over the low representation of women in the party’s candidate list, urging Rahul Gandhi to intervene.In a post on X, Mohamed said that out of 92 tickets, only nine had been allotted to women. She also pointed to the Lok Sabha elections, where just one woman was fielded among 16 candidates in Kerala.”Denied but not defeated,” she wrote, appealing to Rahul Gandhi to support women leaders in the state unit.Her remarks come a day after the Congress finalised its candidates. Leader of opposition VD Satheesan said the party has locked in all 95 nominees it is contesting. “We had announced 55 candidates earlier and have now finalised the remaining 40. The selection process is complete, and we will now move into campaign mode,” he said.Kerala will vote in a single phase on April 9, with counting scheduled for May 4.
