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SAD reserves 33% seats for women in LS, assembly polls
Addressing a gathering of the party’s women’s wing at the annual Maghi Mela celebrations at Muktsar, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said the party will also reserve 33% of the assembly seats and 50% of the civic bodies’ seats for women nominees.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday announced to field women candidates on 33% of Lok Sabha seats in the forthcoming general elections.
Addressing a gathering of the party’s women’s wing at the annual Maghi Mela celebrations at Muktsar, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said the party will also reserve 33% of the assembly seats and 50% of the civic bodies’ seats for women nominees.
Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha seats. Sukhbir’s announcement came after his parliamentarian wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal pitched for a demand to give women more representation in politics.
“Our women cadre says if women can rise to become the President and Prime Minister, then why not a chief minister,” she said at the rally.
Since Independence, Punjab has seen 17 chief ministers and Congress’ Rajinder Kaur Bhattal was the only woman to occupy the top political seat of the state.
Speaking at the rally, Sukhbir announced to start mass enrollment in the party’s women’s wing to strengthen SAD’s political base.
Flaying chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Sukhbir said there was a need to corner the Aam Aadmi Party’s probable political ally the Congress. He did not make any reference to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) or another opponent like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“In the last state election, the AAP misled the voters, particularly women to whom they promised to pay ₹1,000 per month. In power for nearly two years, the Mann government has not paid a penny to the women. The AAP government has failed miserably on all fronts,” he said.
The SAD chief charged the AAP leaders of allegedly conniving with narcotic cartels while the police administration remained a mute spectator.
“Availability of the banned drugs is easy and deaths due to drug abuse have become a daily feature in Punjab. This all is happening as several of the AAP legislators are hand in glove with the drug mafia,” he added without naming anyone.
The Bathinda Lok Sabha MP charged the AAP leadership for allegedly trying to tarnish the image by making unfounded charges against the Badal family.
“The Congress and AAP keep on leveling allegations of sacrilege but investigations by both the governments failed to name any of the Akali leaders in it. Failing to deliver on the pre-election promises, the AAP government is curtailing the number of welfare schemes to divert funds for free electricity. Various social welfare programmes started by the SAD government have been scuttled which shows poor governance of the AAP,” said Harsimrat.
