By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: The newly elected 15th Lok Sabha will see women members in highest number since the 1st Lok Sabha in 1952. Among 59 women Lok Sabha members in the new house there will be three Muslims. This will be the third time in all 15 Lok Sabhas that the number of Muslim women MPs will be three.
The newly elected Muslim women Lok Sabha members are Tabassum Begum, Kaisar Jahan and Mausam Noor. Tabassum has won Kairana Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh on Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. Kaisar, also from BSP, won Sitapur Lok Sabha seat in the same state. Mausam Noor comes from the family of late ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury’s family in Maldah, West Bengal. Mausam has won Maldah Uttar Lok Sabha seat on Congress ticket.
Mausam Noor
Of these three women MPs, Mausam is the youngest and most educated. Only 27-years-old Mausam has done LLB from Calcutta University. While Tabassum (39) is 10th pass, Kaisar (35) could study till class 8th.
But when we talk of wealth, the last two are far ahead of Mausam. Tabassum owns movable assets worth Rs 18 lac and immovable worth Rs 98 lac. Kaisar has movable assets worth Rs 43 lac and immovable worth Rs 21 lac. But Mausam’s movable assets are worth Rs 2 lac and immovable worth Rs 17 lac. While the first two has almost no liabilities, Mausam has a bank loan of Rs 2 lac.
As for the representation of Muslim women in Lok Sabha, they have never crossed the mark of three. Like in the current 15th Lok Sabha, they were three in 6th and 8th Lok Sabha. In six Lok Sabhas (1st, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th and 12th), there was no Muslim woman MP. Of 549 women Lok Sabha members so far, only 18 have been Muslims.
Some general facts about women representation in Lok Sabha:
15th Lok Sabha has highest number of women MPs (59)
17 of them are less than 40 years
23 of 59 are from Congress, and 13 from BJP
UP has sent the maximum number of 13 women MPs
West Bengal has sent seven
In all, 556 women contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections
The sixth Lok Sabha (1977-80) had lowest representation of women only 3.8%
The first Lok Sabha (1952-57) had 4.4 percent women MPs
Muslim women in Lok Sabhas
|
Total No. of women |
Muslim women |
Party |
Constituency |
1st Lok Sabha
|
23 |
Nil |
2nd Lok Sabha
|
24 |
Mafida Ahmed |
Congress |
Jorhat (Assam) |
|
|
Maimoona Sultan |
Congress |
Bhopal (MP) |
3rd Lok Sabha
|
37 |
Zohraben Akbarbhai Chavda |
Congress |
Banaskantha (Guj) |
|
|
Maimoona Sultan |
Congress |
Bhopal (MP) |
4th Lok Sabha
|
32 |
Nil |
5th Lok Sabha
|
26 |
Nil |
6th Lok Sabha
|
18 |
Akbar Jahan Begum |
National Conference |
Srinagar (J&K) |
|
|
Rashida Haque Choudhury |
Congress |
Silchar (Assam) |
|
|
Mohsina Kidwai |
Congress |
Azamgarh (UP) |
7th Lok Sabha
|
32 |
Begam Abida Ahmed |
Congress |
Bareilly (UP) |
|
|
Mohsina Kidwai |
Congress |
Merut (UP) |
8th Lok Sabha
|
46 |
Begum Akbar Jahan Abdullah |
NC |
Anantnag (J&K) |
|
|
Begam Abida Ahmed |
Congress |
Bareilly (UP) |
|
|
Mohsina Kidwai |
Congress |
Merut (UP) |
9th Lok Sabha
|
28 |
Nil |
10th Lok Sabha
|
42 |
Nil |
11th Lok Sabha
|
41 |
Begum Noor Bano |
Congress |
Rampur (UP) |
12th Lok Sabha
|
44 |
Nil |
13th Lok Sabha
|
52 |
Begum Noor Bano |
Congress |
Rampur (UP) |
14th Lok Sabha
|
45 |
Sayda Rubab |
SP |
Bahraich (UP) |
15th Lok Sabha
|
59 |
Tabassum Begum |
BSP |
Kairana (UP) |
|
|
Kaisar Jahan |
BSP |
Sitapur (UP) |
|
|
Mausam Noor |
Congress |
Maldah Uttar (WB) |