Polling officer counting Panchayat Election Ballots at Polytechnic counting centre.
The winning women candidates outnumber men on key posts, ranging from village head to the district panchayat chief, in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Panchayat elections.
This outcome could be seen as an impact of the ongoing women empowerment campaign of the Yogi Adityanath government.
According to official sources, altogether 31,212 women have won the election for the post of gram pradhan, 447 for block pramukh and 42 for the post of district panchayat chairperson in the panchayat elections this year, exceeding the quota of one-third seats allocated for them.
Greater awareness among women and increasing number of educated contestants in the panchayat elections are being seen as major factors responsible for the stupendous victory of women in the panchayat elections.
A first in Uttar Pradesh's history
This is for the first time in the history of UP, that such a large number of women have won the panchayat elections. Women enthusiastically participated in the panchayat elections and the rural population did not hesitate to vote for them.
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The increasing dominance of women in local politics is clear and women have won 31,212 out of 58,176 village head posts, claiming 53.7 per cent of the seats.
Data during Akhilesh's regime
During the Akhilesh Yadav regime in the state, only 25,809 women had won the election for village head's post.
Out of the 75 district panchayat president posts in the state, 42 are occupied by women against their share of up to 24 posts as per the one-third reservation norm for women while men have won only 33 seats.
Women have also excelled in winning block chief's posts also, claiming victory on 447 of the 825 seats.
It is noteworthy that even after having 50 per cent reservation in many states, the average representation of women in the country is only 36.87 per cent.
Kalpana Singh Gurjar, the educated daughter of Badagaon village of Agra, who has been elected as a village head for the first time, believes that educated women should join politics rather than do jobs.
(With inputs from IANS)
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