Lok sabha polls: Among women from state, Selja records most wins

Anil Kakkar

Sirsa, June 9

Congress leader Kumari Selja, having won her way to the Lok Sabha from the Sirsa parliamentary constituency, has established a new record.

She has become the woman with the highest number of Lok Sabha election victories from Haryana. This victory marks her fifth win in the parliamentary elections, propelling her to the Parliament. Additionally, she has served as a Member of the Rajya Sabha from 2014 to 2020. Apart from Selja, only a total of seven women from the state have made it to the Lok Sabha.

Kumari Selja, a recognisable face of the Congress and the inheritor of her father Chaudhary Dalbir Singh’s political legacy, holds the record for the most wins in elections. She has been an MP three times from Sirsa in 1991, 1996 and 2024 and two times from the Ambala Lok Sabha constituencies in 2004 and 2009. She has also been a Rajya Sabha member from 2014 to 2020.

Educated at Panjab University, Chandigarh, Kumari Selja began her political journey as the president of the Women’s Congress in 1990. She has served as a minister three times in the central government, holding portfolios such as Minister of State for Education in the Narasimha Rao government and Minister of Housing and Poverty Alleviation, Social Justice and Empowerment and Tourism in the Manmohan Singh government.

The stories of other women who have made their mark in Lok Sabha elections besides Selja, are also intriguing. The pride of becoming the first female MP from the state goes to Subhadra Joshi. She was the first woman to represent a segment of the region in the parliament. Later, she had gone to Balrampur in UP to take on Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1962 and defeated him.

After that came Chandrawati Devi of the Lok Dal, who defeated the late Chaudhary Bansi Lal in 1977. Chandrawati, who studied law in Delhi University, served as a legislator six times and once as an MP. She also served as a minister in the Punjab Government from 1964 to 1966 and in the Haryana Government from 1972 to 1974. In 1990, she also served as the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry for 11 months.

Apart from that, Kailasho Devi Saini won twice from Kurukshetra on the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) ticket, while Bansi Lal’s granddaughter Shruti Chaudhary and Sudha Yadav of the BJP each succeeded once from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh. Sunita Duggal of the BJP was elected from Sirsa in 2019. In 1999, the state sent two female MPs for the first time — Sudha Yadav from the BJP and Kailasho Saini from the INLD.

In addition, several women from the state have made their way to Parliament through the Rajya Sabha. Sushma Swaraj (1990-1996), Vidya Beniwal (1990-1996), Sumitra Mahajan (2002-2008) and Kumari Selja (2014-2020) have served as Rajya Sabha members from Haryana.

Sunita Duggal holds record for most votes

Elected from the Sirsa seat on the BJP ticket in 2019, Sunita Duggal is Haryana’s sixth female MP. So far, she holds the record for the highest number of votes got by any woman in the Lok Sabha elections in the state. She defeated Congress candidate Ashok Tanwar by 3,09,918 votes. Before 2014, Sunita Duggal was an IRS officer.