Women candidates no, voters yes

PATNA: Political parties are making all possible efforts in the state to lure women voters on the eve of Lok Sabha polls.
Though this time again women candidates appear to have been sidelined in the distribution of tickets by various parties.
In the previous polls, only 22 per cent of women voters used their franchise. The reason behind such a poor response has been poll-related violence, says state convener of BJP’s campaign and management committee Chandra Mohan Rai.
According to Smriti Singh of Yarpur, who is among those who do not vote, says, “I don’t vote because I don’t want to waste my valuable vote by giving it to someone who doesn’t deserve it.�
Besides this, she is not allowed by her family to go out to vote due to the tension prevailing on polling day.Usha Kumari adds that standing in queue for hours in summer heat is a tough job with no provision of even drinking water at polling stations.
JD(U) MLA from Nathnagar Sharada Shrivastava maintains that creating awareness among women is not a onetime job. It should be a continuous process. Active participation of women will lead to improvement in the state’s law and order situation. But the problem lies in women just listening to their male relatives and voting accordingly.
This prevents women from becoming a big force in the state politics and leads to marginalisation of women candidates in ticket distribution.
In this election, she will try to make empowerment of women an issue at least in her constituency, adds Shrivastava. State RJD president Abdul Bari Siddiqui says though there is lesser response from urban women, the number of women casting their votes in rural areas has been swelling since Rabri Devi took over as chief minister. He confesses that there has been lack of initiative on political parties’ part which needs to be overcome.
State president of BJP’s women wing Chandramukhi says they have set up teams of women and young party workers to do door-to-door campaigning to convince women to participate actively in voting, adding that team members will even be stationed at polling booths. The administration also claims to be keen on avoiding any kind of misconduct and encouraging maximum participation of women in voting.
Senior SP of Patna N H Khan says they are making arrangements for proper communication by mobilising chaukidars, specially for the protection of women.
Pallavi Priyadarshini