E-Paper
Eight women elected to Jharkhand assembly
Jharkhand Assembly has seen a 60 per cent rise in the number of women MLAs elected to the House in the just-completed Assembly election.
Jharkhand Assembly has seen a 60 per cent rise in the number of women MLAs elected to the House in the just-completed Assembly election.
Out of the 123 women candidates who contested the polls, eight women were elected to the Jharkhand Assembly this time.
In the last Assembly, there were five women MLAs -Annapurna Devi (RJD), Aparna Sengupta (AIFB), Sushila Hansda (JMM), Kunti Devi (BJP) and Joba Majhi (UGDP).
The prominent women MLAs elected are Geeta Koda, wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, who won by over 25,000 votes from her husband's Jagannathpur assembly constituency in West Singhbhum district defeating BJP candidate Sonaram Birua.
Madhu Koda was twice elected from Jagannathpur seat before he won the Lok Sabha election from Singhbhum in the 2009 parliamentary poll.
Sita Soren, widow of Durga Soren, the elder son of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) made her maiden foray into politics by winning from the Jama assembly seat on a JMM ticket by over 12,000 votes.
Annapurna Devi of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) retained her Koderma seat by defeating her nearest rival JVM(P) rival Ramesh Singh by 23,283 votes.
Kunti Devi of the BJP retained her Jharia seat this time by defeating her nearest Congress rival Suresh Singh by 3016 votes.
Menaka Sardar of the BJP, who won from Potka assembly seat by defeating her nearest Congress rival by 15,710 votes, is a first-time woman MLA.
Another first-time woman MLA in the Jharkhand Assembly is Geeta Shree Oraon of the Congress, who won from the Sisai seat defeating the sitting BJP MLA Samir Oraon by 14,941 votes.
Vimla Pradhan of the BJP made her maiden entry into the Jharkhand Assembly by winning from the Simdega seat by defeating sitting Congress MLA Neil Tirkey.
Sudha Choudhary of the JD(U) won from the Chhatarpur seat defeating Manoj Kumar of the JMM by 9746 votes.
Joba Majhi of the UGDP, who had won the election last time and was also a minister, lost the election this time from her Manoharpur seat.
Aparna Sengupta of the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) lost from Nirsa seat while Sushila Hansda of the JMM did not contest the elections this time.
In 2000, when Jharkhand was created as a new state there were only three women MLAs. Now Jharkhand has eight women MLAs - nearly a three fold rise in the number in nine years.
