A new trend of elected women outnumbering their male counterparts in the Shimla civic elections has become yet another history of sorts, other than the landslide victory of the Congress party.
The Congress staged a comeback after a decade by wresting the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) from BJP that was held on 2 May. With the results of the SMC elections declared on Thursday, the women’s power has dominated like never before surpassing the women’s reservation, after four women candidates won from the unreserved seats by beating their male counterparts.
Out of 34 wards (seats), 21 women (61.76 per cent) have won, including 14 from Congress and seven from BJP. 17 wards, inclusive of three for Scheduled Caste women, had been reserved for the women while 14 were open (unreserved) and three for Scheduled caste. While the BJP reposed trust in 24 women candidates, Congress gave tickets to 18 women, whereas CPI (M) had fielded one woman out of four of the candidates they fielded this time.
The winning women candidates of Congress include Kanta Suyal (Kaithu), Urmila Kashyap (Annadale) and Sushma Kuthaila (Ram Bazaar), SimiNanda (Nabha), other first-timers are Monika Bhardwaj(Tutu), Anita Verma (Majthai), Kiran Sharma (Kachighati), Uma Kaushal(Tutikandi), Umang Banga (Lower Bazaar), Sheenam Kataria (Banmore), MamtaChandel (Sanjauli Chowk), Vishaka Modi (Lower Dhalli), Shanta Verma (Malyana), Rachna Bhardwaj (Vikas Nagar).
MeenaChauhan (Bharari), Saroj Thakur (Ruldu Bhatta), Kamlesh Mehta (Uppar Dhalli),Kusum Thakur (Panthaghati), Rachna Sharma (Kasumpti), Asha Sharma (Patyog) and Nisha Thakur (New Shimla) represent BJP. Meena Chauhan (BJP), Kamlesh Mehta (BJP), Asha Sharma (BJP), and Sheenam Kataria(Congress) were elected from the unreserved wards. The socially empowered women of Shimla city now hold the key in decision-making, as only 13 male councilors won the elections.
As senior-most experienced candidates are expected to be made mayor and deputy mayor, the women are yet again in competition with men, emerging as front-runners for the coveted posts. For the male contenders, Surender Chauhan and Kuldeep Thakur, it is their third victory, while Narinder Thakur has won for a second time.
Among the women winners, Uma Kaushal and Sushma Kuthiala, both three-time winners, are in the race. Besides, there are Kanta Suyal and Simi Nanda, winners for the second time.
However, with such a huge majority of women, even if the post is clinched by Surender Chauhan a senior in age as well and his closeness to Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the deputy mayor will likely be among the women.
In the 2017 elections, 20 women made it to the Shimla Municipal Corporation. The high-stake polling for the civic body had been held on 2 May, which registered 58.97 per cent of voter turnout. The polling was held on party symbols after a gap of ten years in which 102 candidates were in the fray from Congress, BJP, CPI (M), and AAP. Of the total 93,920 votes, 55,385 people exercised their franchise, these include 29,504 (59.29 per cent) male voters, while 25,881 (58.60 per cent) were female voters.
Women’s voting percentage was the highest in Annadale and Bhatta Kuffar wards, where women voters outnumbered their male counterparts. Women voter turnout was 60.6 per cent while male voters were 59.3 per cent, in the Annadale ward. Bhatta Kuffar ward, which recorded the highest poll percentage of 74.9 per cent in the civic polls, had 84.9 per cent of females exercising their franchise, whereas the male voter percentage was 65.6 per cent.