Women MLAs at 10-yr low despite female voter %age at all-time high

The representation of women in the Delhi Assembly stands at its lowest in a decade — five — although for the first time in the history of the national capital, the 2025 poll cycle saw women voters have a slight edge, outnumbering men.

Of the five women who have won this time, four (Neelam Pehalwan, Shikha Roy, Rekha Gupta and Poonam Sharma) are from the BJP, the highest number for the saffron party in 32 years and one (Atishi) from the Aam Aadmi Party.

The number of women elected this time signals a sharp decline from the eight elected in 2020 elections.

The BJP dominated the polls, securing 48 out of 70 seats, and notably, also managed to have four of its nine women candidates elected. This is for the first time in three decades that more than one female candidate from the BJP had been elected in the Delhi Assembly elections.

Of the 699 candidates contesting in the 2025 elections, 96 were women, accounting for 13.7 per cent of the total candidate pool, which represents the highest female participation in the Delhi Assembly elections.

However despite this, the number of women elected has decreased significantly. Historically, the highest number of women MLAs in Delhi was recorded in 1998, when nine women were elected, eight from the Congress and one from the BJP (late Sushma Swaraj).

The 2025 elections also marked the first time in a decade that women’s representation has been so low, despite the fact that women voter turnout exceeded that of men for the first time in the history of the Delhi Assembly elections. Women voter turnout this time was 60.90 per cent, higher than men’s at 60.21 per cent. The gap between male and female voter turnout has been gradually narrowing over the years.

In 2020, women turnout was 62.55 per cent, compared to 62.62 per cent for men, and in 2013, it was 65.14 per cent for women versus 66.03 per cent for men.

Though the number of women candidates this year was the highest in recent years, with 96 women contesting compared to 79 in 2020, only five were elected. This contrasts with previous elections where a larger number of women were able to secure seats. In 2020, all eight elected women were from AAP, including notable leaders such as Atishi, Rakhi Birla and Preeti Tomar. Similarly in 2015, six women were elected from AAP, and in 2013, three women from AAP made it to the Assembly.

In earlier years, Delhi saw stronger representation from women in politics. In 2003, seven women were elected, all from the Congress, including Sheila Dikshit, who served as the Chief Minister. In 1998, a record nine women were elected, including Sushma Swaraj of the BJP, alongside Congress leaders like Sheila Dikshit, Tajdar Babar and Meera Bhardwaj.

Delhi has also seen three women serve as Chief Ministers — Sushma Swaraj, Sheila Dikshit and Atishi— representing the BJP, Congress and AAP, respectively. Despite these milestones, the continuing under-representation of women in Delhi’s political sphere calls for more substantial efforts to promote gender equality in the capital’s legislative process.