Indore: The parliamentary constituency Dewas have witnessed negligible representation of women in Lok Sabha elections. The seat saw a woman candidate only once in 1996 after many tenures of Lok Sabha.Shakuntala Chouhan is the only female candidate to contest Lok Sabha elections from Dewas (Shajapur) Lok Sabha seat in 1996. Congress had fielded her from Shajapur, which ceased to exit after delimitation in 2008 and Dewas came into existence. She lost the seat against Thawarchand Gehlot of BJP.Even in this general election, the top potential names trending to get tickets from both the major political parties are of male candidates.Dewas Congress president Manoj Rajani said, “There are women leaders in the party , but majority of the candidates seeking tickets are male. The final decision on who will get the ticket is taken after extensive research and dialogues.”Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has promised 33 per cent reservation for women in the parliament and state assemblies if his party comes to power.BJP Dewas district president Nand Kishore Patidar said, “The number of women candidates seeking tickets from this seat has been very low since the beginning. I do not remember any women candidate from this seat contesting elections from BJP. But if there is any potential candidate, the national leadership will definitely consider her candidature.”Chances of women candidates to be fielded by either of the parties are bleak even in the upcoming elections, according to sources from Congress and BJP. This seat has remained with BJP for long except in 2009 when Sajjan Singh Verma of Congress won. BJP has grabbed this constituency in a row from 1989. In 2014 general election, Manohar Untwal tasted victory on this seat by defeating Congress candidate Verma.

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