Among the major parties (Congress has 23 women MPs, BJP has 13, and the Trinamool and BSP follow with 4 MPs each), the representation — rather underrepresentation — of backward caste MPs is roughly equal in Congress and BJP. If the Congress has 48 per cent backward caste MPs, the BJP has 46 per cent.

But the Congress and BJP differ substantially on three counts. Unsurprisingly, the Congress does better in terms of minority representation — 3 out of 23 Congress women MPs are from the minority community while the BJP list does not have a single one from the minority community. But the BJP has many more first-timers — eight of its 13 MPs, about 61 per cent, are first timers. First timers constitute only 39 per cent of the Congress list.

The difference between the Congress and BJP is most pronounced in the number of women who come to Parliament via the political family. Four of the BJP’s 13 women MPs, that is nearly 31 per cent, fall in this category, while the figure vaults to 18 out of 23, nearly 78 per cent, in the Congress list.

The problem is most pronounced in a party like the BSP. All four of the women MPs in the BSP are first-timers, but all four belong to political families.