The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly poll results, declared on Sunday, once again followed the same old trend of few women candidates, fewer winners.

Only three out of 67 women candidates — PDP president Mehbooba Mufti from Wachi, Shamima Firdous from Habba Kadal and Sakita Itoo from Noorabad — managed to win the elections.

Even in the last Assembly polls, of the 30 female candidates, only two emerged victorious — Congress leader Suman Lata Bhagat from RS Pura and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti from Pahalgam. In 1996 elections the number of female candidates was 15, in 1987 it was 13, 1983 it was seven, in 1977 four and in 1972 Assembly elections it was eight.

This time, of the recordbreaking 1,353 candidates, only 67 (around five per cent) were women. In fact, in the seventh phase of polls, the number of women contestants was the highest at 31.

While three women contested in the first phase, another two were in the fray in the second phase of elections. In the third phase, five women contested, while 10 women candidates were in the fray for the fourth phase of elections. In the fifth phase, five women were in the poll ring while in the sixth there were 11 women contestants.

It may be noted that after militancy raised its head in the state in 1989, the participation of women in the electoral process has seen a sharp decline. The percentage of the women voters has also come down from 70.36 in 1987 Assembly polls to 38.27 in the 2002 Assembly polls.

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