After waiting long for development at her native village in Fatehpur Sikri, an undergraduate student Vandana Sharma has entered into the electoral fray this time. She has pledged not to get married until her village gets developed.
BA second year student Vandana (25), has filed nomination papers as Independent candidate from Fatehpur Sikri constituency even after facing denial from the family members. “My friends used to tease me saying ‘tere gaon mein to namak khareedne bhi 8 kilometre jana padta hai’. I am living in Agra with my family but whenever I go to my village in Fatehpur Sikri I see my relatives face difficulties due to lack of basic amenities. All this inspires me to contest polls for bringing development in the constituency,” said Vandana while talking to The Pioneer. She added due to some personal reasons, my study was stopped for some time.
“Before elections I had a word with my family for contesting polls but they did not allow me to do it. Still I filed the nomination papers. For the security money, I used my savings and kept the news of nomination secret from my family. Once the nomination was completed, I informed them. Even then they were not ready to allow me and I remained at home for a week. But now they have allowed me to contest elections,” she added.
Being an Independent candidate, Vandana had to do the campaigning work on her own and not much people are seen with her expect some family members and friends. She had opted for door-to-door campaigning and is telling people that how much development is needed in the constituency.
When asked about her view on major political parties, she said at present the sitting MlA is from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but none work for development in the constituency. Even the Samajwadi Party and the Congress alliance does not seem to be a fruitful thing for the constituency. In such case, one has to come forward, contest election and carry out development.
Interestingly, Vandana has pledged not to marry until development work in her village is being done. “My family wants that I should get married and leave all this behind. I have stated clearly that at least until development takes place in the village I am not going to get married. I will make efforts to bring better facilities for the denizens,” she said.
When asked about her inspiration for elections, she said my brother is a social worker and had been working with an old age home. Similarly, my father is a farmer. There are other issues too in the constituency related to basic amenities. “When the Governments are not focusing on development, people especially the youth should come forward, contest election and do the actual work for the people,” she added.