In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Maharashtra elected seven women MPs, one fewer than the record eight in 2019. Maharashtra holds 48 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Nationally, 74 women MPs were elected, a slight decline from the 78 in 2019.
West Bengal elected the most women MPs with 11, followed by Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, each with seven.
In Maharashtra, 17 women candidates were fielded by the two main coalitions: Maha Yuti (NDA) and Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A). These alliances include six parties: BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Ajit Pawar-led NCP, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), and Congress.
The Congress won 13 seats, four of which went to women: Prof. Varsha Gaikwad (Mumbai North-Central), Praniti Shinde (Solapur-SC), Shobha Bachhav (Dhule), and Pratibha Dhanorkar (Chandrapur). The NCP (SP) won eight seats, with one woman, Supriya Sule (Baramati), elected. The BJP elected two women, Smita Wagh (Jalgaon) and Raksha Khadse (Raver). The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Ajit Pawar-led NCP failed to elect any women.
Notably, Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar, defeated Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, in Baramati. Three of the elected MPs are current MLAs: Prof. Varsha Gaikwad, Pratibha Dhanorkar, and Praniti Shinde. Two are sitting MPs: Raksha Khadse and Supriya Sule. All come from political families.
Some sitting women MPs were dropped, including BJP’s Poonam Mahajan, Shiv Sena’s Bhawana Gawali, and BJP’s Dr. Pritam Munde. Dr. Pritam Munde was replaced by her sister Pankaja Munde, who lost.
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