With 2 Independents, Shakti Rani Sharma lone woman fielded by a party in Panchkula

With the deadline for withdrawal of candidature having come to an end on Monday, Kalka’s Shakti Rani Sharma, apart from two independent candidates in Panchkula, remains the only woman candidate to be fielded by any major party in the district. This, as two independent women candidates—Geeta Devi and Preeti of Kalka—withdrew their candidatures on Monday.

The final list of candidates who will be contesting the two Assembly segments—Kalka and Panchkula—has been prepared after scrutiny, followed by the withdrawal of nomination papers on Monday.

Earlier, three women were in the fray for the Kalka seat and two for the Panchkula seat. These included BJP’s Shakti Rani Sharma along with independent candidates Geeta Devi and Preeti for Kalka and Saroj Bala and Natasha Sood for Panchkula. But on Monday, independent candidates Geeta Devi and Preeti withdrew their candidature.

Saroj Bala of Panchkula, who holds an LLB, said, “Primarily, I want to work on the education system in the region. The people are also facing problems of drinking water, road and sewer connectivity.” From the point of view of women, she added, “I want to ensure women are respected in society.”

Natasha Sood, who holds a double master of arts from Panjab University, said she wanted to put an end to corruption in the system. “Poor people are being neglected in the country. Even contesting the elections has become a business, as people are spending money on this as well. For this, one day I plan to form my own political party comprising honest people.” She said she wanted to bring ‘justice’ to women.

BJP’s Shakti Rani Sharma is one of the three candidates in Kalka. Accompanied by party leaders and workers, she has been going around the constituency, actively seeking votes. Former union minister and Haryana Janchetna Party chief Venod Sharma also carried-out a campaign in support of his wife Shakti Rani Sharma on Monday. She is the only woman candidate in the fray on behalf of a political party.

On the other hand, Kalka’s Geeta Devi, a resident of village Sukhomajri, said her husband, Gopal Chaudhary, was contesting the elections. “Therefore, I decided to withdraw my candidature. Now he will contest the polls,” she said.

Preeti, a resident of Raipur Rani in Kalka who had earlier pledged her support to Congress candidate Pardeep Chaudhary, today pledged her support to BJP candidate Shakti Rani Sharma and withdrew her candidature. While Preeti was not available for comments, her husband, Dilawar Singh, speaking on her behalf, said they had been trying to contest for the last 10 years. “Every time, our segment seat in the local or state elections was either notified for reserved category candidates or she could not contest for some other reason. This time, she has pledged her support to the BJP’s Shakti Rani Sharma due to some personal reasons.” He said they were also influenced by the developmental works carried out by the BJP government in the state.

Jannayak Janta party’s Balbir Kumar and Rashtrawadi Janlok party’s Charan Singh also withdrew their nomination in addition to independent candidates Geeta Devi and Preeti for Kalka seat. Among those for the Panchkula seat, independent candidate Gurtej Singh was the only one to withdraw his papers. Singh said he had expressed support to Congress party’s Chander Mohan and had joined the party.