The two main contenders for power in Uttarakhand- BJP and Congress- have fielded just eight and five women candidates respectively for the 70-member state assembly elections this time. This comes to around 10 per cent, while the women wings of both parties have been demanding 20 to 30 per cent of the tickets to women in the state over the decades in their bid to get their share in a “power cake”.
They are right as well. The women are not only the backbone of hill economy, but they are also a bedrock of grass roots democracy. Not only this. Women voters in 40 seats- 33 seats in the hills and three seats in the plains- outnumber men’s in Uttarakhand, which has 70 assembly seats.
The women have also always been at the forefront of social movement in Uttarakhand. Name any social movement in Uttarakhand and a galaxy of women comes to the forefront. Gaura Devi, who had literally sacrificed her life for protecting greenery of hills in Chipko movement, Kamla Pant, a lead figure of Uttarakhand statehood fight, Mangala Mata of Hans foundation, who worked to provide basic facilities in the remote villages. PadamShri, Basanti Bisht, Harshvanti Bisht, a Mt Everester and an Arjuna awardee of save Gangotri mission fame, Urvashi Rautela, an actress who had participated in Miss Universe contest, who launched many recovery campaigns in Uttarakhand.
The list is endless. It is not a political party, who has given them recognition- they have earned their recognition by dint of their hard work and by their fighting spirit, they assert.
On the other hand, many leaders in the hills rose to power on the back of the political parties or propped up by their "masters" by following a “cult of hero worship”, comments a woman writer. "The talks of women empowerment and “Matrishakti” by political parties sound hollow when it comes to sharing power or giving tickets to tickets or representation to women in India", she says.
Despite the fact that women voters in 40 seats- 33 seats in the hills and three seats in the plains- outnumber men’s in Uttarakhand, the ruling BJP and Congress have been denying women candidates their due.
This time also, if one goes by the Election Commission of India(ECI), there are 80 women candidates among 722 candidates in fray for elections in Uttarakhand. Congress has fielded just eight women candidates, while BJP has given tickets to just five women that has exposed their hypocrisy, say the irate women candidates, who were denied the tickets, while AAP has fielded four.
Most of the women candidates are contesting as independents or from the local parties as the main parties are giving them a raw deal.
The story was no different in 2017 elections – just eight women candidates got Congress tickets, while another six women got tickets from BJP.
There were 58 women candidates in fray in 2017, but only 18 women candidates got tickets from the mainstream political parties- five each from BJP, Congress, SP while three woman candidates got BSP’s ticket.
As they were being denied the party tickets, a large number of angry women are choosing a revolting mode to show their anger against main parties: As many as 32 women candidates contested the 2017 polls independently, another eight tried their political luck on the newly formed parties like Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, Rashtriya Adarsh Party and Prajamandal party, Sainik Samaj Party, Uttarakhand Parivartan Party.
Similarly, BJP faced also revolt after the party denied ticket to its Mahila Morcha chief Ritu Khanduri, who is the daughter of former Chief Minister BC Khanduri. BJP instead gave ticket to a turncoat from the Congress, Sarita Arya from Nainital. But it was after her revolt she was finally fielded from Kotdwar.
Congress also faced revolt from its candidate Sandhya Dhalkoti. She was dropped from Lal Kuan constituency after a veteran leader Harish Chandra supporters revolted against her. She laid a siege of Chandra’s house and protested there few days back, saying, “It is an insult to the matrishakti(womanhood)”.
Congress fielded three women candidates- Mamta Rakesh (Bhagwanpur), former MLA, Godawari Shapli(Masoorie), Meena Sharma (Rudrapur) without controversary.
Despite all the efforts of the Election Commission to increase the voting percentage where the voting percentage of men is less in the state, women are voting more than men and lending a big support to strengthen democracy in the Himalayan state that has come to existence over 21 years ago.
President SDC Foundation, Dehradun, Anoop Nautiyal said their organization is analyzing the election results of the earlier Uttarakhand elections from different angles. The purpose of these analysis is to increase voter participation, draw attention to the solutions of migration and promote women empowerment in the state, he said.
Nautiyal said in 2017 assembly elections, the voting percentage of men in 34 seats in nine hill districts of Uttarakhand was only 51.15 and women's polling percentage was 65.12. More women than men voted in 33 of the 34 seats in the nine hill districts of the state. It was only in the Purola assembly seat of Uttarkashi district that 583 more men voted than women, he said.
Nautiyal said apart from 33 seats in hilly districts, 4 seats in plain districts, Doiwala, Rishikesh, Kaladhungi and Khatima also had more women voters than men. In hill districts, on an average, 28202 women and 23086 men exercised their franchise in each assembly seat and on an average 5116 more women cast their votes than men in each seat, SDC researchers found.
Bageshwar, Rudraprayag and Dwarahat were at the forefront in terms of maximum number of women voting. In Bageshwar, 9802 more women exercised their franchise than men, 9517 in Rudraprayag and 9043 in Dwarahat.
Despite such a large participation of women in the voting in the hill districts of the state, major political parties have given tickets to a small number of women. The coming government should make plans keeping in mind the all-round development of women in the state, demand the members of the civil society groups in Uttarakhand.
Apart from this, it should also be kept in mind that how people who are unable to vote due to livelihood compulsions and migration can be made a part of the democratic process, said the researchers, Vidush Pandey, Praveen Upreti and Pyare Lal at SDC Foundation.
(Kuldeep Chauhan, Editor, HimbuMail )
