India, June 21 -- Despite the historic introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill in 2023, a new joint report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) reveals a stark reality: India's political parties are still failing to field female candidates.

Releasing an analysis of 39,789 candidates across the 2024 Lok Sabha and subsequent State Assembly elections by ADR shows that women remain severely underrepresented. While India boasts 662.9 million female voters (accounting for nearly 49 of the population), women make up just 14 of the current Parliament. Globally, India ranks a low 151 out of 185 countries for women's representation in Parliament, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). ...