Parties in state pick just 15 women for polls to 48 seats
Baramati An Exception In The District
The Times of India Pune Edition Dt-5 April 2019Pune: Nisha.Nambiar@timesgroup.com
Political parties have betrayed their inability to bridge the gender divide in the poll arena by fielding just 15 women candidates for the elections to the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
According to the nominations filed by party candidates, in the Pune district, only Baramati will see two women contestants face off, while Maval, Pune and Shirur will have men take on each other. There might be some women who join the fray as Independents.
The image does not improve at the state level. While the BJP has nominated seven women, the Congress has fielded four. Their respective allies — the Shiv Sena and the NCP — have put up just one name each. The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), meanwhile, has named three women.
The number of woman voters has gone up, but political parties still seem hesitant to allot tickets to women. Though the parties claim that a candidate is chosen based only on “experience and merit” and not gender, research experts feel the lack of 33% reservation in parliamentary elections is reflected in women’s share in party tickets.
Political research expert Chandrakant Bhujbal, from the Political Research and Analysis Bureau, siad the parties are hesitant to field women candidates, especially new ones, as the constituencies are huge and “winnability” is paramount. “There is no mandate on the parties, as the proposal of 33% reservation for women in parliamentary elections is yet to be passed by the Rajya Sabha,” he said.
“Women do a lot of good work at the grassroots level, and if entrusted with the responsibility, they will do well in parliamentary polls,” said another political observer.
Neelam Gorhe, the convenor, MLC and spokesperson of the Shiv Sena, added, “If we are able to create mass base representation for women in politics, either in a political or individual capacity, there would be more meaningful representation of women in LS and assembly polls. Otherwise, it will be reduced to tokenism.”
A senior woman candidate, in an interview, had said that many women also opt out of the race fearing attacks on their personal lives.
A party worker, meanwhile, said, “Only the women candidates who won the past elections, and stand to win again, are selected by the party.”
However, there have been incidences of parties deciding to not let a woman contest even after she has filed her nomination — as seen in the case of BJP’s Smita Wagh in Jalgaon. Though Wagh was named the Jalgaon candidate in an earlier list, on Thursday, the BJP replaced her candidature with its Chalisgaon MLA Unmesh Patil’s. Party sources explained the choice was altered based on the chances of a win against NCP’s Gulabrao Patil.
A party loyalist, who too was an aspirant, said politics has always been male-dominated and added, “The names are ultimately decided by senior male party members.”
Family lineage also matters. NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule is contesting from Baramati. Also in the fray are Pritam Munde, daughter of Gopinath Munde; Poonam Mahajan, Pramod Mahajan’s daughter; Heena Gavit, Vijaykumar Gavit’s daughter, and Priya Dutt, Sunil Dutt’s daughter. Smita Wagh is Jalgaon district president’s Uday Wagh’s wife.
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