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The ongoing campaign to empower women has started yielding desired results which is manifested in the recently concluded panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh wherein victorious female candidates have outnumbered male counterparts on key posts, ranging from gram pradhans to zila panchayat chairpersons.
As per a state government communiqué released on Wednesday, a total of 31,212 women won the election to the post of gram pradhans, 447 of block pramukhs and 42 of zila panchayat chairpersons in the 2021 panchayat elections, exceeding the quota of one-third seats allocated for the fairer sex, leaving the men to trail them. Thereby women candidates pocketed 53.7 per cent of the seats, outnumbering male candidates who won 26,955 or 46.3 per cent seats.
Of the 75 zila panchayat chairpersons in the state, 42 posts are occupied by women against their share of up to 24 posts as per the one-third reservation norm for women while men could win only 33 seats. Women’s representation in these ministerial level posts is 56 per cent.
Women also excelled in winning more than half of block pramukh posts, romping home on 447 of the 825 seats. Here too male candidates lagged behind with 378 seats. It is noteworthy that even after 50 per cent reservation for women in several states, the average representation of women in the country is only 36.87 per cent.
Greater awareness among women and rising number of educated contestants in panchayat elections are being seen as major factors responsible for the stupendous victory of women in these local bodies elections. The results are also being viewed as a leap forward towards strengthening the foundations of democracy at the rural level and empowering women. This is for the first time in the history of UP, when such a large number of women have won the panchayat elections. The government communiqué claimed that the women empowerment campaign and initiatives undertaken by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to raise awareness and involve them in the developmental process of the state played a vital role in their new found status. Women enthusiastically participated in panchayat elections and the rural populace did not hesitate to vote for them and ensure their victory. During the previous Samajwadi Party regime in UP, only 25,809 women candidates could win the election for gram pradhan posts.
Newly-elected gram pradhan of Badagaon village (Agra), Kalpana Singh Gurjar, believes that educated women should join politics rather than do jobs if the circumstances of the family are favourable as they can think more holistically for society. Kalpana said that she would encourage other women from the area to get involved in developmental activities and find self-employment to accelerate social change.