The percentage of women running in Indian elections is even smaller than the percentage of female MPs

6.9% was the percentage of women candidates in the 2009 Indian election. Although the 2009 figure is the highest in 15 national elections held in India so far (the lowest was 2.2% in 1971), it’s far from representative of the electoral demographic, and does not reflect the popularity of female candidates. In 2009, women accounted for 47.7% of registered voters and they made up 10.9% of the 543-member parliament.

Source: How India Lives, a company founded by journalists, which seeks to increase the access and search of public data in India. More statistics on the largest election in history here.