New Delhi, May 26 -- Just 724 women contesting in an election in which 8,049 candidates were in the fray says it all. Women are coming out in droves to vote, outnumbering men in many states, but when it comes to getting a slice of the electoral pie, they are on the margins. The Congress, though beaten fair and square, put up the maximum number of women at 54, followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 53. Though she is not known to espouse women's causes, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party fielded 24 women, the Trinamool Congress 23, the CPI (M) 10, the CPI four and the Nationalist Congress Party a dismal one. As many as 222 women contested independently....