Jharkhand Civic Polls See Record Women Participation: 42% Mayoral Candidates, 50% Ward Councillors

Ranchi: Urban local bodies across Jharkhand, which will go to polls on Feb 23, are witnessing a rise in participation of women.

As the curtains came down on nomination process on Friday, a State Election Commission data said 42% of all the candidates of mayors (in municipal corporations) and chairpersons in nagar parishads and nagar panchayats are women. While 674 nominations were filed for these posts, 283 of the candidates were women.

The participation is even more striking in ward councillor elections. Out of a total of 6,305 nominations filed for ward councillor posts, 3,179 were women candidates, accounting for 50% of the total candidates.

Out of the 48 ULBs across Jharkhand, nine are municipal corporations, 20 are municipal councils, and 19 are nagar parishads. In total, the ULBs have 1,087 wards.

Of the 48 ULBs, the posts of two mayors and chairpersons of 17 nagar parishads and nagar panchayats are reserved for women. These are Medininagar and Mango municipal corporations, nagar parishads in Bishrampur, Madhupur, Pakur, Chirkunda, Phusro, Ramgarh, Gumla, Mihijam and Jugsalai, and nagar panchayats in Banshidhar Nagar, Harihurganj, Barki Saraiya, Barharwa, Basukinath, Jamtara, Khunti and Chakulia.

Five out of the 19 candidates, who were aspiring for the post of Ranchi mayor, were women. However, eight of them, including one woman candidate, withdrew their nominations on Friday. On the other hand, for the ward councillors’ posts in 53 wards of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC), 96 of the 167 candidates are women.

While the surge in women’s participation reflects growing political awareness and empowerment, candidates and political leaders said the reservation policy also played a crucial role in driving the increased turnout.

Rajya Sabha MP and JMM leader, Mahua Maji, said that in the previous civic body polls in 2018, many wards were reserved for women. “As a result, many women were put forward as candidates by their husbands, brothers, or other male relatives. That brought a change in attitude and political awareness among the women, resulting in such a rise in women’s participation this time. But at the same time, in many cases, the elected women are there just for the sake of it, and most of the decisions are made by the males in their family.”

Diksha Singh (22), a ward councillor candidate from ward 25 of RMC, echoing the same viewpoint, said, “Women are coming forward and being part of the policy-making process so that their voices and concerns can be heard and represented. But the reservation policy, too, impacted this surge.”

She added that earlier ward 25 was reserved for OBC candidates, but this time the ward was reserved for women candidates of all categories. “My father was a ward councillor from this ward in 2008. But in my case, it is my personal choice and will for which I am contesting this election,” Diksha, a sociology graduate from Delhi University, said.