Meet These Women MPs You Probably Didn’t Know About
These women have been freshly elected to the Lok Sabha and there is so much to learn about them.
With the national level tussle between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, not much coverage remained for women. Certainly, there were many cases where women like Smriti Irani, Atishi, Hema Malini or Sadhvi Pragya made national news. But did you know that many of our new women MPs are simultaneously a poet, a doctor, a physical education trainer or an activist?
We spotted an eye opening twitter thread that talks of these women across parties who have made it to the Lok Sabha. We hope that their upcoming tenure of 5 years promises more power to women throughout the nation. Here are few of these inspirational female representatives, some of whom would be sitting in office for the first time.
Ramya Haridas, Kerala (Congress)
Congress politician Ramya Haridas is the only woman candidate elected to the Lok Sabha from the state of Kerala. She has campaigned in Kerala for post-flood development among many of her other initiatives.
Pramila Bisoi, Odisha (BJD)
70-year-old Pramila Bisoi, from Biju Janata Dal, is an active self-help group propagator and promotes women participation in every walk of life.
Chandrani Murmu, Odisha (BJD)
The recent MP from Odisha, Chandrani Murmu from BJD has set a historical record. She is to be the youngest member of Lok Sabha once she swears in as MP in a few days. She will turn 26 in the upcoming month. More interestingly, this engineering graduate won the elections by defeating a two-time BJP MP in her constituency of Keonjhar. Being a woman from a Scheduled Tribe, the elections were certainly a huge challenge for Murmu. However, the woman has not just won votes and hearts but has also set records.
A Physical Education Trainer, A Poet, An IAS Officer, An Actor
BJP representative Raksha Khadse from Maharashtra has been active since the age of 23 in the field of politics. She has been re-elected this year and continues to be MP after being a Zilla Parishad Member and Sarpanch through her career.
Chinta Anuradha, newly elected YSRCP MP from an Andhra Pradesh seat, takes sheer pride in being a feminist.
Aparajita Sarangi, former IAS officer, will represent Bhubaneswar in Parliament as BJP MP. Sarmistha Sethi from BJD party resigned from the Odisha Finanacial Services to democratically secure a seat in the parliament.
Navaneet Rana, a Telugu film actress, has been elected from Amravati constituency to the Lok Sabha. She fought the elections as an independent candidate, backed by NCP and defeated a five time MP candidate. The Amravati constituency got a change of representative after 20 long years.
Goddeti Madhavi is newly elected YSRCP MP from Araku, Andhra Pradesh. Apart from being from a Scheduled Tribe, Madhavi is a physical education trainer and defeated a six time MP in her constituency.
Sumathy Thamizhachi Thangapandian is a writer and a Tamizh poet and now MP from the constituency of South Chennai. She represents the DMK party.
These women will be sitting in the Lower House of Parliament for the upcoming five years. It is very reassuring to watch women from a multitude of vocations, age groups and cultural background winning the confidence of people. We hope that these results of 17th Lok Sabha elections bring more progress regarding gender and equality.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)