Ferozepur district elects its first woman legislator

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, March 12

Notwithstanding being one of the major centres of girl education since pre-partition times, this border district sharing international boundary with Pakistan had never elected a woman legislator from any of the Assembly constituencies in its fold.

However, seven decades after Independence, Satkar Kaur of the Congress, who got elected from Ferozepur (Rural) Assembly segment trouncing sitting SAD MLA Joginder Singh Jindu by 21,380 votes, has finally broken the jinx and created history of being the first woman MLA from this district.

Earlier, handpicked by AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi to contest the 2012 Assembly polls, she had lost her maiden electoral bout by a narrow margin of just 107 votes.

However, she bounced back by securing a convincing win over Jindu this time. Apart from her, there was no other woman candidate from any of the four Assembly constituencies in fray from this district.

Earlier, Akali turncoat Shivinder Kaur Johal, who remained president of the Istri Akali Dal before switching over to the Congress, was nominated to contest from Ferozepur City seat in 1997. However, she had to taste defeat at the hands of Girdhara Singh of the BJP by a huge margin of over 30,000 votes. Even in the Lok Sabha, no woman has ever contested polls from this parliamentary segment. Before Johal, Suraksha Rani had contested as an Independent in 1969, but she too had lost.

Satkar said, “I shall try to see that women get their rightful place in society in this border region,” she said.