Over the years, the number of women legislators in the state has slowly been growing, but they still have a long way to go before they catch up with their male counterparts. When 13 women candidates won the Vidhan Sabha elections in the state in 2005, it was the highest number of women contestants ever elected in the state.

As many as 60 women candidates were in the fray in the last Assembly elections in Haryana, of which 13 had won. Eleven out of these belonged to the Congress, one to the Indian National Lok Dal and another was an Independent.

In 1967, during the first Assembly elections in the state, only eight women had contested the poll. This was the time when the least number of women candidates contested the Vidhan Sabha elections.

The highest number of women contestants was seen in the 1996 Assembly elections when 93 women candidates took part. However, only four of then won. As many as 80 women candidates had lost their security deposits then. Only four women candidates had won the first Assembly elections in the state. All four had been fielded by the Congress.

In 1968 and 1982, seven women candidates were elected to the state Assembly. This was the second highest number of women legislators in a Haryana Assembly. The Congress had fielded six women of which four emerged victorious. Two women legislators were from the Lok Dal and one was Independent.

Incidentally, in the post-emergency year of 1977, all seven women candidates fielded by the Congress lost the polls. Four of the five women who had won then were from the Janata Party. In 1987, when Bhajan Lal had become an MP, his wife Jasma Devi contested from the Adampur seat and won. Two women legislators were elected on the BJP ticket, one on the Lok Dal and one was Independent.

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