NEW DELHI: The new council of ministers in the 18th Lok Sabha includes seven women, with two holding Cabinet positions. This marks a decrease from the previous council, which had 10 women ministers before its dissolution on June 5.
Former Union minister Smriti Irani, minister of state Dr Bharti Pawar, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Darshana Jardosh, Meenakshi Lekhi, and Pratima Bhoumik were among those who were not retained.
Nirmala Sitharaman, a former Union minister, and BJP MPs Annpurna Devi, Shobha Karandlaje, Raksha Khadse, Savitri Thakur, Nimuben Bambhaniya, as well as Apna Dal MP Anupriya Patel, are the newly appointed ministers. Sitharaman and Devi have been given Cabinet roles, while the others have been sworn in as ministers of state.
Irani and Pawar lost their incumbent seats in Amethi and Dandori, respectively, while Jyoti, Jardosh, Lekhi, and Bhoumik were not fielded by the BJP. Devi, Karandlaje, Khadse, Sehrawat, and Patel, who won the recent polls, have been included in the new council of ministers.
The Lok Sabha elections this year saw a slight decrease in the number of women elected, with 74 winning compared to 78 in 2019.
PM Narendra Modi, along with his 71-member council of ministers, took the oath on Sunday as the new coalition government was formed following two full tenures in which the BJP had a majority on its own. PM Modi’s first term in 2014 included eight women ministers, while his second term saw six women ministers sworn in, and by the end of the 17th Lok Sabha, there were 10 women ministers.
(With agency inputs)
Former Union minister Smriti Irani, minister of state Dr Bharti Pawar, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Darshana Jardosh, Meenakshi Lekhi, and Pratima Bhoumik were among those who were not retained.
Nirmala Sitharaman, a former Union minister, and BJP MPs Annpurna Devi, Shobha Karandlaje, Raksha Khadse, Savitri Thakur, Nimuben Bambhaniya, as well as Apna Dal MP Anupriya Patel, are the newly appointed ministers. Sitharaman and Devi have been given Cabinet roles, while the others have been sworn in as ministers of state.
Irani and Pawar lost their incumbent seats in Amethi and Dandori, respectively, while Jyoti, Jardosh, Lekhi, and Bhoumik were not fielded by the BJP. Devi, Karandlaje, Khadse, Sehrawat, and Patel, who won the recent polls, have been included in the new council of ministers.
The Lok Sabha elections this year saw a slight decrease in the number of women elected, with 74 winning compared to 78 in 2019.
PM Narendra Modi, along with his 71-member council of ministers, took the oath on Sunday as the new coalition government was formed following two full tenures in which the BJP had a majority on its own. PM Modi’s first term in 2014 included eight women ministers, while his second term saw six women ministers sworn in, and by the end of the 17th Lok Sabha, there were 10 women ministers.
(With agency inputs)