Dehradun, Traditionally, women of Uttarakhand have been the backbone of all environmental, social revolution the hill-state has ever witnessed. From Chipko Movement for Greener Himalayas, anti-liquor prohibition or a fight for separate statehood. Even when it comes to sending Minister of Parliament to the Center from here, a whooping 3,711,220 women voters out of the total 77,65, 423 voters play a pivotal role.
Between Dehradun and Haridwar, the plains of Uttarakhand have the highest women voters with the District of Dehradun topping at 6,71,645 followed by Haridwar at 6,16,865. On the other hand, the hill district of Champawat has the lowest number of women voters at 92,453.
A graph of women franchise from Rudraprayag shows how women voters will be the deciding factor here and not their male counter part:
Rudrapryag: Male: 92,497; Women: 93,889
Since its very inception, when it comes to distribution of political tickets for Vidhan Sabha or Lok Sabha elections national political parties like the Congress and the Bhartiya Janta Party sideline the much-talked about Matrashakti of the hill-state. Out of the five MP seats, BJP has fielded a repeat candidate Mala Raja Lakshmi Shah from Tehri, the sole women representation from the State at the Centre since 2014, and the Congress, none.
Neha Joshi, a young, dynamic BJP worker and National media coordinator for BJYM feels that her party is grooming women leader to contest future elections, ‘change has to come from the bottom upwards and leaders have to be groomed, and my party is consciously working on those lines. They are trying to inculcate leadership qualities and groom more women leaders. We are being prepared for future elections and this mere tokenism of giving tickets to empower women is not going to work.”
On the other hand Congress Spokesperson Garima Basauni states, “Congress doesn’t abstain from giving women equal opportunity. We have had the first woman Prime Minister, President, Speaker, AICC President. This time the scenario is different, its about winning elections and each and every single seat counts.”
So for now, the women of the hill-state have to find consolation in the fact that in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections they can make a difference through their collective franchise, that is the power of Democracy.
Women Voters District-wise:
Dehradun: 6,71,645
Haridwar: 6,16,865
Bageshwar: 10,3,859
Uttarkashi: 10,8,831
US Nagar: 5,63,815
Nainital: 3,52,487
Pauri: 2,73,369
Almora: 2,59,312
Tehri: 2,44,667
Pithoragarh: 1,86,476
Chamoli: 1,43,552
Rudraprayag: 93,889
Champawat: 92,453
