Kerala women may be ahead of their counterparts in other states in terms of awareness, freedom and mobility, but the state's political parties are not doing justice to them.

The candidates' lists issued by major political parties debunk the claim that Kerala's women enjoy a superior status. Kerala is the only state in which the population of women outnumbers that of men.

While the ruling Congress party, which otherwise backs moves to reserve a third of all seats in legislatures for women, has left just two out of 71 seats for them in the upcoming assembly elections.

The two women Congress contestants are Savitri Lakshmanan, who will fight it out from Chalakudy, and Simi Rosebel John from Mararikulam.

Even if the Congress fields women in the remaining six seats where it has to announce candidates, the total number of women would be less than 10 percent.

Party sources indicated that at least two more women - Shanimol Usman (Perumbavoor) and Rosakkutty (Ollur) - would be accommodated.

Incidentally, Rosebel John, who has been an active Congress worker for more than a decade, would have to face veteran communist Thomas Isaac at Mararikulam, a Left bastion known as a 'Red Fort'.

The main opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is slightly better: it has fielded eight women among its 80 candidates.

The Marxists are expected to contest about 10 seats more.

"Despite the tall claims of party leaders and pressure from (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi, the party spared just two or three seats for women, that too after much heart burning," complained a woman party leader from the state.

"Their sincerity and commitment to empowerment of women is confined to speeches," the leader told IANS over telephone from Kerala.

The CPI-M, which has vehemently advocated a larger role for women in legislatures, admitted that the party leadership was not happy with the women's representation in its list.

"In the given situation, we have to be realistic to the compulsions and pressures. That's the reason we are asking for legislation," CPI-M politburo member S. Ramchandra Pillai told IANS.

"We are trying to improve the situation. But we are not happy at all with the present scenario," he admitted.

The Communist Party of India (CPI), a major constituent of the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front, has fielded two women out of their total 24 seats.

But the Indian Union Muslim League - the second largest constituent of the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front - does not have a woman in its 23-member list.