Women lag behind men voters in state

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, February 8

The State Election Commission figures say there are only 762 women per 1,000 male voters in certain parts of Haryana.

Though over 40 per cent women have been elected to various posts against 33 per cent seats reserved for them in the recent PRI poll, their participation as voters leaves much to be desired.

As per the electoral rolls for Haryana published in January, the gender ratio of electors in Haryana is 861, a slight improvement from 859 in 2015.

This is equal to the gender ratio of 861 as per the 2001 Census and much lower than the ratio of 879 reported in the 2011 Census.

With 906 women voters against 1,000 men, Rewari has the highest gender ratio among electors in Haryana while Faridabad stands at the bottom among the state’s 21 districts with 800 women voters against 1,000 men.

Gurgaon (897 women voters per 1,000 men), Kurukshetra (895) and Fatehabad (894) are some other districts with a better gender ratio among electors while Sonepat (831), Panipat (842) and Jind (843) are among the districts with a poor ratio.

Ballabgarh in Faridabad has the lowest ratio of 762 among the subdivisions.

Sirsa district topped the state in polling in the last two phases of the panchayat poll with a voting percentage of nearly 92 per cent while the health authorities claimed to have improved the gender ratio at birth to 999 girls against 1,000 boys in December, 2015. However, the gender ratio of voters in the district is merely 882 women against 1,000 men.

“People generally avoid registering their unmarried daughters as voters in the state apprehending that the transfer of a voter to another place after marriage will involve unnecessary hassles,” said Jasbir Singh Jassa, a progressive farmer from Sahuwala village of Sirsa.

Sharandeep Kaur Brar, Deputy Commissioner – cum – District Electoral Officer at Sirsa, however, said it did not involve any hassles as one could get one’s vote cancelled at a place by applying on Form 7 and get a fresh one at the new place by a simple application on Form 6.

Sarv khap’s first ‘mahila panchayat’ to be held in March

Ambala: To make women aware about their rights and duties, the women wing of the Sarva Jat Sarva Khap Mahapanchayat is all set to organise its first mahila panchayat.

Santosh Dahiya, president of the women wing, said here yesterday, “The first mahila panchayat will be held in the first week of March in Kurukshetra.”

“The prime objective of organising the panchayat is to make women aware about their rights and duties. It has been observed that people misuse their rights,” she said. “In a large number of cases women have been found guilty of misusing the law and their rights, which is a matter of concern,” she added.

Santosh, who was recently selected among the 100 women achievers in the country, said “The women wing of the mahapanchayat had been working in the field of women empowerment, against female foeticide, domestic violence and ‘purdah’ system for the past more than six years.”

“During the recently held panchayat elections, large number of women were seen campaigning in veils and many of them won,” she said, adding the veil was an obstacle in the progress of women and it should be eliminated in Haryana.

Nitish Sharma, TNS