Women’s Right to Vote in India
Women’s Day India / November 26, (1949)
Number of female heads of state to date: 3
Since the very first Indian general election held in 1951–52, universal suffrage for all adult citizens aged 21 or older was established under Article 326 of the Constitution of India. The minimum voting age was reduced to 18 years by the 61st Amendment, effective 28 March 1989.
Photo by Yogendra Singh
Constitution of India
The Constitution of India came into force on January 26th, 1950.
India, also known as Bharat, is a Union of States. It is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government. The Republic is governed in terms of the Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November, 1949 and came into force on 26th January, 1950. The Constitution provides for a Parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure with certain unitary features. The constitutional head of the Executive of the Union is the President. As per Article 79 of the Constitution of India, the council of the Parliament of the Union consists of the President and two Houses known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head to aid and advise the President, who shall exercise his/her functions in accordance to the advice. The real executive power is thus vested in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head.
› india.gov.in/constitution-india
UN Women
Constitution of India 1949, as amended to 2019
> constitutions.unwomen.org/india
How India Became Democratic
Citizenship and the Making of the Universal Franchise
By Ornit Shani
Dec 2017
How India Became Democratic explores the greatest experiment in democratic human history. It tells the untold story of the preparation of the electoral roll on the basis of universal adult franchise in the world’s largest democracy. Ornit Shani offers a new view of the institutionalisation of democracy in India, and of the way democracy captured the political imagination of its diverse peoples. Turning all adult Indians into voters against the backdrop of the partition of India and Pakistan, and in anticipation of the drawing up of a constitution, was a staggering task. Indians became voters before they were citizens – by the time the constitution came into force in 1950, the abstract notion of universal franchise and electoral democracy were already grounded. Drawing on rich archival materials, Shani shows how the Indian people were a driving force in the making of democratic citizenship as they struggled for their voting rights.
› read more
When Madras’ women won the vote
Way back in 1921, Madras was the first legislature in British India to pass the women’s suffrage resolution by a considerable majority
As the vociferous battle for women’s freedom and equality rages on in the country, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the journey, in many ways, began in Madras.
Way back in 1921, Madras was the first legislature in British India to pass the women’s suffrage resolution by a considerable majority. This meant that for the first time, women were recognised as ‘people’ by the State, thereby given the right to vote on the same condition as men.
› read more
Women’s Indian Association
On 8 May 1917 in Adyār, Madras, a multiethnic group of women established the Women’s Indian Association (WIA), India’s first major feminist organization, which remains in operation today.
WIA Centenary
Women’s Indian Association had its Centenary at Adyar on 3rd March 2017.
Thanks to Dr Annie Besant, one of the Founders of the WIA, this celebration took place in Adyar.
The high level Guests were Hon’ble President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, and Hon’ble Governor of Maharasthra and Tamil Nadu, Shri Ch Vidyasagar Rao.
› ts-adyar.org/wia-centenary
› timesofindia.indiatimes.com/womens-indian-association-to-mark-centenary/
› encyclopedia.com/womens-indian-association
It’s all for women, by women
by Saraswathy Srinivasan
Women’s Indian Association at Greenways Road, RA Puram, the more than a century-old organisation that is a pioneer in the field of women development, implements welfare programmes for women and children, especially those from the weaker sections.
› read more
Votes for Women in India: the early female MPs and their lobbying for Indian suffrage
by Sumita Mukherjee
The 1918 Representation of the People Act, which enfranchised some British women over 30, had a broader impact beyond the British Isles. In commemorating the centenary of this Act, it will be important to acknowledge some of the broader geographical legacies of this suffrage victory.
Many British suffragettes and suffragists had, for example, invoked India during their campaigns and turned their attention more directly towards India after 1918. Until India gained independence from Britain in 1947, matters of the Indian women’s franchise were decided in the House of Commons. There were two significant Acts of Parliament on this issue in 1919 and 1935.
› read more
Women in India are voting today, thanks to a Jewish MP’s initiative 100 years ago
by Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Today, women voting and contesting elections in India are taken for granted. One must not forget the contribution made by a very young, radical and little-remembered Edwin Samuel Montagu.
› read more
By not seeing marital rape as a crime, Supreme Court is doing a disservice to Indian women
Aug 10, 2017
After attempts to dilute the impact of the domestic violence act, comes the odious observation from the apex court.
› read more