Number of women contestants falls in Punjab

With Punjab boasting of 79 lakh women voters, a mere nine women contestants, are in the fray, coming down from 14 in the last elections for these the May 10 LS polls.

Published on: Apr 29, 2004, 13:43:00 IST

PTI | By Anonymous, Chandigarh

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With Punjab boasting of 79 lakh women voters, a mere nine women contestants, including the wife of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh are in the fray for the May ten Lok Sabha polls, the number coming down from 14 in the last general elections.

The Chief Minister's wife Praneet Kaur, is contesting from the prestigious Patiala constituency, where two other women- Ranjit Kaur and Bhinder Kaur- are trying their luck at the hustings.

In Gurdaspur, Congress candidate Sukhbhans Kaur Bhinder, who had won a record five times, is once again pitted against Union Minister Vinod Khanna. She was defeated by Khanna in last two elections by a narrow margin.

Khushal Bhaura, widow of CPI stalwart Bhan Singh Bhaura who had a comfortable win from Bathinda (R), is locked in virtual straight contest against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Paramjit Kaur Gulshan. Gulshan is wife of a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Another prominent woman in the contest is Karan Brar, daughter-in-law of former chief minister Harcharan Singh Brar, who is challenging the son of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Badal in the Faridkot constituency.

In the last Lok Sabha polls only two women- Praneet Kaur and Santosh Choudhary- emerged victorious, out of total 14 women contestants. Chaudhary won from the Phillaur (R) seat.

As many as nine women contestants lost their deposits in the 1999 polls.

The women candidates are in fray in Gurdaspur (one), Amritsar (one), Phillaur-R (one), Patiala (three), Bathinda (two) and Faridkot (one) this time.

Barring the ruling Congress, political parties including the SAD had shied away from fielding women candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

While the Congress had fielded four women out of the 11 seats it is contesting, the SAD of Parkash Singh Badal had reposed faith on lone Paramjit kaur from Bathinda seat.

However, women find no representation in other political outfits in Punjab - radical leader Simranjit Singh Mann- led SAD (Amritsar), BJP and the BSP.

The Congress had re-nominated Bhinder (Gurdaspur), Santosh Choudhary (Phillaur) and Praneet Kaur (Patiala).

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