With better half as backroom boys, women councillors all at sea

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 6

Despite the fact that Punjab government has announced 50 per cent of reservation to women in the upcoming MC poll but the claims of government supporting women empowerment has been overpowered by the husbands of female candidates.

There is fear that ‘councillor pati’ will have their stronghold in the area and corporations after polls.

The elections for Municipal Corporation Amritsar will be held on December 17 and political parties have allocation tickets to female candidates as per the reservation of seats.

The husbands of female candidates are leading the front from where their wives were fielded by political parties and real candidates are only visible on hoardings, pamphlets and posters. The physical existence of female candidates in campaigning is almost negligible here.

It came to notice that political parties have entertained their male leaders and workers by allocating tickets to female kin. There is also a resentment among grassroots workers that parties have ignored their real female cadre and the decision is wrong.

There are several senior leaders in the political parties, who managed party tickets for their female relatives.

After polls, I am sure that ‘Councillor Pati’ will rule the sessions of corporation and female contestants will be ignored again, she added.

The social activists is demanding that government must bring some enactment that if a husband of any female candidate will take part in sessions of corporation or intervene in the work then the candidature of particular contestant will be cancelled.

Kuljit Singh, a political activist said, “After reading the name of woman candidates in lists of political parties, I feel that nothing is going to change. All senior party leaders arranged tickets for their woman relatives. How the common woman would get politically empower? Even the genuine woman leaders got sidelined”.