Rudrapryag is the only district in Uttarakhand where the number of women voters in the upcoming elections of three tier Panchayati Raj bodies is more than men. The data of the State Election Commission for the 12 districts where the Panchayat election would be held shows that out of a total electorate of 43,11,423 in these districts, there are 21,05,093 women voters and 22,06,330 male voters.
Incidentally, in all the districts, the male voters outnumber female voters. In Rudraprayag, the small mountainous district, however, the trend is reversed as there are 97,708 female voters in this district as compared to 96,985 male voters. They would elect 336 Village Pradhans, 117 members of Block Panchayat and 18 district Panchayat members.
In Pithoragarh district, there is very less difference in the number of male and female voters. Here, there are 1,61,888 female voters as compared to 1,62,428 male voters.
It is pertinent to mention here that there is a provision of 50 percent reservation of seats for women at every level of Panchayati raj bodies in Uttarakhand. The state incidentally was first in the country to implement 50 percent reservation for women at all levels in Panchayati raj in the year 2008.
However, the benefit of reservation to women has failed to yield desired results and has not caused the empowerment of women folks of the state. In most cases it is observed that the female elected representatives have remained rubber stamps with real power being wielded by their husbands. The nomenclature of Pradhan Patis (husbands of female representatives) aptly summarises this phenomenon.
In a recent interaction with The Pioneer, the Panchayati Raj minister Arvind Pandey said that the state government is planning to restrict entries of Pradhan Patis in the board meetings of Panchayati raj bodies.
In Uttarakhand, out of 55,574 posts of member village Panchayat, 27,787 are reserved for women. Similarly, there are 3,743 posts reserved for women out of 7,426 posts.
In the member Block Panchayat, 2,984 representatives would be elected out of these posts 1,492 are reserved for women. Similarly, out of 356 posts of member district panchayat, 178 are kept reserved for women.
Apart from these directly elected posts, 50 percent of posts of President district Panchayat and President Block Panchayat (Block Pramukh) would remain reserved for women.
The Panchayat elections in 12 districts of the State would be held in three phases. The voting for first phase would be held on October 5 while for second and third phase voting would be held on October 11 and 16 respectively.
The counting of votes would be done on October 21 and the results are expected to be declared on the same day.