Kudumbashree accounts for 42% of women candidates for local body polls

As many as 16,589 women from the Kudumbashree network are contesting the local body elections this time.

They comprise nearly 42% of the 39,609 women candidates in the fray.

With Kerala providing for 50% reservation for women in local bodies in 2009 through the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and the Kerala Municipality Act with the goal of giving them a greater say in the decision-making process for grassroots development, political parties have increasingly turned to the Kudumbashree to field candidates with the best chances of a win.

Of the 16,589 Kudumbashree women who are contesting the polls, nearly 75% (12,347) are neighbourhood group (NHG) members. The maximum NHG members standing for the elections are from Kozhikode (1,396) followed by Thiruvananthapuram (1,321). The lowest representation for the women empowerment mission was in Idukki where only 229 NHG are in the fray.

Also readying to battle are 227 chairpersons of Kudumbashree community development societies (CDSs), the topmost rung in the three-tier Kudumbashree network. The highest number of CDS chairpersons contesting is from Palakkad (26). The lowest is in Kasaragod – seven.

A total of 1,985 CDS members too are gearing up for battle across the State. The highest number of them is in Thrissur – 634. Malappuram is at a distant second with 165 CDS members contesting from the district.

Representing the middle rung of area development society (ADS) are 1,898 ADS members. Among them, the highest number in the fray is from Alappuzha – 348. Next is Thrissur with 267 ADS members.

The young face of the Kudumbashree is reflected in the 132 auxiliary group members who are standing for the elections. The highest number of them is in Alappuzha district – 25. Malappuram is close behind with 21 auxiliary group members in the fray.

Among the districts, Alappuzha has the highest number of Kudumbashree women who are contesting the local body polls – 1,735. Thiruvananthapuram is next with 1,648 and Ernakulam with 1,634. The least is in Idukki – 269.

As many as 34 Kudumbashree women are in the fray in Attappady too as part of the Attappady Special Project. Of them, 24 are NHG members, nine ADS, and two CDS members.

In 2020, 16,864 Kudumbashree women contested the polls, while five years before that in 2015, 15,863 of them stood for the elections.