Number of women elected to Lok Sabha less than 2009

 New Delhi, May 17 (IANS) This Lok Sabha will have a lesser number of women than the last time with just 55 women being elected to the lower house of parliament as compared to 59 in 2009.

 Some of the prominent women winners were Congress president Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and actor Kirron Kher from Chandigarh.

West Bengal had the largest tally of women winners at 13. Uttar Pradesh was a close second at 11.

While 59 women were elected in 2009, the corresponding number in 2004 was 45, and in 1999 it was 49.

The least number of women in the Lok Sabha was in 1957 at 22.