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Congress fields 27 women in Bihar elections

The Congress has given women maximum opportunity of representation in Bihar, fielding 27 women candidates, while the Samajwadi Party has put up no women in the election to the 324-member Bihar assembly. Altogether, 184 women candidates, including 59 independents, are in the fray this time.

The Congress allotted 19 tickets to women in 1980 wherein seven won seats, 32 in 1985 (12 wins), 14 in 1990 (Seven wins) and 18 in 1995 (One won).

The outgoing assembly had only 12 women legislators of whom five belonged to the Rashtriya Janata Dal, two to the Communist Party of India-Marxist and one each to the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samata Party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Jharkhand People's Party. Of these, three were elected in the by-election in 1996.

The Congress has re-nominated its lone sitting legislator, Sushila Kerketta, who defeated rival Chamra Gupta of the Bharatiya Janata by 11,718 votes. The party has also given a chance to 13 new woman candidates.

Among the experienced politicians were Jyoti (former minister) from Sahar, Uma Pandey (former minister) from Baniapur, Dolly Kandulana from Torpa, Veena Shahi from Vaishali, Nirmala Singh from Jalalpur, Rajkumari Himmat Singh from Nala and Gayatri Devi from Rajauli.

Besides, in the fray this time are Kamla Devi from Barauni, Rani Devi Paswan from Bakhri, Lakshmi Devi from Sikndra, Meena Singh from Mokameh, Banarsi Devi Gupta from Barhara, Jay Lakshmi from Piro, Manju Ram from Bagha, Manju Choudhry from Kanti, Sudama Singh from Sursand, Kiran Jha from Saharsa, Manju Yadav from Madhepura, Indi Sinha from Purnea, Sunita Devi from Korha and Pramodeni Hansada.

The RJD, a product of a split in the Janata Dal, had five women legislators in the outgoing assembly and has given 17 women a chance this time. The party has re-nominated sitting legislator Anpurna Devi, minister Abo Devi and former minister Shanti Devi.

Besides legislator and minister Rama Devi, Gita Devi and Bhagwati Devi, veterans in politics, there are 11 debutantes -- Lalita Hembram, Kanchan Bala, Fellen Kujur, Usha Sinha Bhanu, Revati Tuddu, Kiran Ray and Manorma Devi.

The BJP, which had only one female representative in the outgoing assembly, has given tickets to nine women this time. Except for Sukhda Pandey, a newbie contesting from Buxar, the remaining eight are known figures.

Other than the outgoing representative, the seven experienced candidates in the fray are Bhagirathy Devi from Shikarpur, Renu Devi from Bettiah, Vishakha Devi from Madhupur, Vimla Rai from Bihpur, Lalita Singh from Konch, Maneka Sardar from Potka and Shakuntla Devi from Sahar.

The Bihar Jan Congress and the Janata Dal (United) have fielded only one female candidate apiece for this assembly election. The Janata Dal had six women candidates in the last assembly elections and eight in 1990.

The Samata Party, a constituent of the NDA, has given picked seven women candidates, including three debutantes. They are Ashwamadeh Devi from Kalyanpur, Sudha Srivastava from Nathnagar, Poonam Devi from Masaurhi, Shyam Pyari Devi from Rajpur, Prabhavati Devi from Ramgarh, Lila Devi from Mohania and Lesi Devi.

The left parties have also allotted tickets to a significant number of women contestants. The Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist, all five female candidates of which were defeated in the last assembly election, has fielded eight women, including three newbies, this time.

The party has fielded Anita Kumari from Patna west, Kunti Devi from Makhdumpur, Savitri Devi from Govindpur, Damyanti Devi from Koderma, Guni Oraon from Barkagaon, Rupa Devi from Hussanabad, Swarnima Kumari from Kishanpur and Shashi Yadav from Hilsa.

The CPI, which had no women candidate in the last assembly election, has fielded five female representatives -- Priti Kumari Jha from Katihar, Taregna Devi from Chenari, Partima Priyadarshani from Tarapur, Martha Khalko from Ranchi and Laro Joko from Chakradharpur.

In 1980, the CPI gave tickets to four women candidates, while they gave two seats to women in the 1985 and 1990 assembly elections, only two were given party tickets. In 1995 even this token representation was done away with.

Ironically the party sources explained the declining representation as an outcome of a dearth of suitable women candidates.

Following the path of the CPI, the CPI-M also tried to keep its promises towards the fair sex and gave party ticket to two of them. They are Madhvi Sarkar from Purnia and Manju Prakash from Buxar.

The Bihar Peoples Party, which had fielded eight candidates in the last election, has fielded only two representatives this time, party heavyweight Lovely Anad from Saharsa and Mahasundrai Devi from Hgorasahan.

UNI

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