CPI(M) politburo member and former Kerala Minister P K Sreemathi, who won from Kannur, is the lone woman candidate to have successfully made it to the Lok Sabha from Kerala.
This year, for the first time 27 women contestants, including two each from Congress, CPI(M) and BJP, were testing electoral waters.
Congress' Bindu Krishna (Attingal) and K A Sheeba (Alathur); CPI(M)'s P K Sainaba (Malappuram) and BJP's Shobha Surendran (Palakkad) and Girija Kumari (Attingal) had to taste defeat in their respective constituencies.
The Aam Admi Party (AAP) had fielded journalist Anita Pratap in Ernakulam and writer Sara Joseph in Thrissur, but both failed to make any mark.
Despite women outnumbering men in the state, only seven women--Anne Mascrene, who fought the elections in 1952 from the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin state; Susheela Gopalan, A K Premajam, Sathi Devi, C S Sujata (all CPI-M), Bhargavy Thankappan (CPI), besides Congress' Savithri Lakshmanan had made it to the lower House.
