Ghaziabad municipal elections: Women at the forefront in 34 out of 100 seats

The post of Ghaziabad mayor had been held earlier by Damayanti Goyal

While various political parties have failed to arrive at a consensus on the proposed 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies, the list of nominees for the Ghaziabad municipal polls has a fair share of women.

Apart from the corporation, the local municipal bodies of Loni and Khoda have also reserved the chairperson’s seat for women candidates. (Sakib Ali/HT PHOTO)

According to the state election commission records, 34 out of 100 seats have been reserved for women candidates under different categories. The mayor’s seat, too, has been reserved for woman. The post had also been held earlier by the late Damyanti Goyal.

Some of the major wards in prominent localities have also been reserved for women candidates. These include wards in Ahimsa Khand, Gyan Khand, Shakti Khand, Abhay Khand in Indirpauram and wards of Vaishali sectors 1, 2 and 3. Wards in sectors 1 and 3 of Vasundhara have also been reserved for women, apart from others at Rajendra Nagar, Shalimar Garden Extension, etc.

“A candidate bidding to represent the people in a civic body should be educated and also having a vision to serve them in his/her capacity as a councillor. The candidate should also be known to the people that he represents,” said Udita Tyagi, a social activist.

Apart from the corporation, the local municipal bodies of Loni and Khoda have also reserved the chairperson’s seat for women candidates. Khoda was declared a Nagar Palika last year and will hold its first local body election this time.

In Modi Nagar, out of 26 seats of councillors, 12 are reserved for women under different categories. The town already has a woman MLA, Dr Manju Shivach, elected in the recent assembly polls. In Murad Nagar, 10 out of 25 seats are also reserved for women. In Loni, 19 out of 55 seats are reserved for women.

Read I Ghaziabad goes to polls on November 26, more than 13.5 lakh to vote

“Even in earlier polls, seats had been reserved for women. Be it a man or a woman, we need self-driven and educated candidates in the House. It has also been seen that while women are elected as councillors, their works are handled by their husbands, known as ‘Parshad Pati’. Their husbands even represent them at board meetings. They often bag contracts in the their wives’ names,” said Rajendra Tyagi, a councillor from Raj Nagar.

While all major political parties, including Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, have put women in fray for the municipal polls, there are more contesting as independents.

The parties are yet to fully declare their lists and the names for the mayoral candidate.