Only three women elected to LS polls till date – Mandi Election

SHIMLA: Only three women have made it to the Lok Sabha from Himachal Pradesh in the past 72 years and this time, just two are in the fray.

Women constitute almost 49 per cent of the total voters in the state.

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Chandresh Kumari and Pratibha Singh, the three successful candidates till now belonged to royal families.

Only the BJP and the BSP have nominated women candidates for the June 1 elections for the four Lok Sabha seats in the state.

While the BJP has fielded actor Kangana Ranaut from Mandi, Rekha Rani is contesting on a BSP ticket from Kangra.

“Women from humble background rising high in politics and carving a niche for themselves is still a big challenge in the country and Himachal Pradesh is no exception.

At present, women constitute about 49 per cent of the total voters in the state but representation is not even one fourth and this is a cause of serious concern,” said Ramesh Chauhan, head of the department of political science at Himachal Pradesh University.

In politics, what matters is who has the decision-making power.

This power is normally with men and until women are given prominent positions, they would not emerge as “empowered” and surpass their dominant male counterparts, Chauhan told PTI.

According to Kamal Manohar Sharma, who also teaches political science at Himachal Pradesh University, the status of women has been high in the state and even before reservation for women was introduced, women pradhans were elected in Mandi, Kinnaur and Kangra districts.

But women were not so keen to climb the ladder to the assembly, he claimed.

Moreover, the political parties also did not promote or encourage the women with humble background, he added.

Political parties go all out to woo the women voters but when it comes to declaring candidates, women get few opportunities, the political experts felt.