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BJP names five women in its Jharkhand’s new 24-member team
Releasing the list of the office bearers, state media in-charge Shivpujan Pathak said the list includes nine vice-presidents, three general secretaries and nine secretaries
Increasing women’s participation in the party’s top leadership, Jharkhand BJP chief Aditya Sahu named five women in his 24-member new team of office bearers, which was approved by the central leadership, party leaders said on Saturday.
Releasing the list of the office bearers, state media in-charge Shivpujan Pathak said the list includes nine vice-presidents, three general secretaries and nine secretaries. “Deppak Banka has been named treasurer, while Hemant Das has been named as secretary (office),” he added.
Both Banka and Das have secured a third term in their respective positions. Party leaders said the leadership tried to balance the state’s regional and social demographics in the list. While 13 of the 24 office bearers retained their positions on the state team, the entry of five women in the list is the highlight of the exercise. In the previous team, only two women were on the list of state-level office bearers. This time it has gone up to five,” a party leader said.
The five women included in the list are former parliamentarians Geeta Kora and Abha Mahto, who have been appointed vice presidents. Besides, Sunita Singh, Krishna Mahto, and Shalini Vaiskhiyar have been secretaries.
Though the appointed office bearers hail from 16 of the 24 districts in the state, Ranchi tops the list with six of the 24 office bearers belonging to the state capital. Besides Ranchi, the only districts with more than one representative are Dhanbad, Giridih, and Garhwa, each having two. Eight of the 24 districts, including Latehar, Chatra, Koderma, Deoghar, Godda, Pakur, Jamtara and Simdega failed to get any representation.
Regionally, South Chhotanagpur has the maximum representation with nine office bearers, while North Chhotanagpur, the state’s largest division by population, has seven. While three members come from the Kolhan and Palamu divisions, the tribal dominated Santhal Parganas has the fewest representatives, with only two members.
“Ranchi traditionally dominates the list of office bearers due to work demand. Of the nine office bearers from Ranchi, two are secretary and joint secretary in-charge of the state headquarters. They are required to be in the office which makes it impossible for party leaders from outside to hold such posts. Similar restrictions apply when choosing the state spokespersons,” a senior party leader said.
