While the national parties Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with the Bharat Rastra Samithi (BRS), a regional party in Telangana, claim credit for the enactment of the Women’s Reservation Act-2023, requiring one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies to be allocated to women, a closer examination of their allotment of MP tickets to women candidates in the Lok Sabha polls reveals a lack of sincerity in promoting women’s representation in legislative bodies.
These three prominent parties have collectively allotted tickets to only six women out of the total 17 Lok Sabha seats in the State, which is a mere 12% of the overall 51 nominees from these parties.
While the Congress party has nominated Patnam Suneetha Reddy from Malkajgiri, Kadiyam Kavya from Warangal, and Atram Suguna from Adilabad, the BJP has fielded D. K. Aruna from Mahabubnagar and Kompella Madhavi Latha from Hyderabad. The BRS has allotted the ticket to Mahabubabad sitting MP Maloth Kavitha once again.
The scant presence of women candidates raises concerns about gender representation in Telangana’s political arena, and achieving gender parity remains a challenge in electoral politics where winning a seat by hook or crook is always a priority for any political party.
This trend of minimal female representation in Telangana’s Lok Sabha elections is not new. Since its inception, only one-woman MP was elected in both the 2014 and 2019 elections. Kalvakuntla Kavitha of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) (now BRS) secured victory in 2014 from Nizamabad, while Maloth Kavitha emerged as the sole woman MP in 2019, representing BRS from Mahabubabad. Kalvakuntla Kavitha is staying away from these elections despite BJP’s Arvind Dharmapuri challenging her to contest against him. Moreover, she is in jail in the Delhi liquor policy case now.
Meanwhile, three of these candidates — Kadiyam Kavya from Warangal Lok Sabha (SC), Atram Suguna from Adilabad (ST), and Madhavi Latha from Hyderabad — are testing the waters for the first time in electoral politics. On the other hand, three-time MLA and Minister in the Congress government in the combined Andhra Pradesh, D. K. Aruna from Gadwal is leaving no stone unturned to win the Mahabubnagar Lok Sabha constituency, while Patnam Suneetha Reddy — the first chairperson of Vikarabad Zilla Parishad — and wife of MLC Patnam Mahender Reddy, is contesting from Malkajgiri.
The pedigree works in politics is a known case and a closer look at the candidates reveals that four of the six candidates are from politically well-established families. Kadiyam Kavya is the daughter of a seasoned politician and present MLA from Station Ghanpur, Kadiyam Srihari, while Maloth Kavitha is the daughter of another veteran leader and former MLA from Dornakal, D. S. Redya Naik. Both Sunitha Reddy and D. K. Aruna are from politically reputed families in the State and are from the dominant Reddy community. Considering these facts, it seems it could be a significant challenge for any woman from marginalised sections without a political legacy.
The BJP candidate from Hyderabad Madhavi Latha is an entrepreneur and one of the richest among all the contestants in Telangana. Despite not coming from a political background her economic might surely helped her to secure the ticket for Hyderabad apart from her hard Hindutva agenda. Congress candidate Aatram Suguna is certainly an exception among all these with no political or economic might to back her.
In addition to the present political landscape, the legacy of former women MPs from the Telangana region reflects a history of leadership and resilience. Figures like Tella Lakshmi Kantamma, Renuka Chowdhury from Khammam, Vijayashanti from Medak, and Kalvakuntla Kavitha from Nizamabad have proven their grit and determination and left indelible marks on politics through their advocacy for women’s rights and dedication to public service. But other elected leaders like Tanguturi Manemma, the wife of former CM of united Andhra Pradesh, T. Anjaiah, who won from Secunderabad, Dr. C. Suguna Kumari from Peddapalli, and Dr. T. Kalpana Devi from Warangal, have failed to make a mark of their own.
