In Sirsa, women leaders push for change, seek larger electoral role
Anil Kakkar
Sirsa, August 24
Though Kumari Selja is currently representing Sirsa in the Lok Sabha — before her, it was Sunita Duggal — the district remains largely unrepresented by women in the Legislative Assembly. The district’s five Assembly constituencies have rarely seen female representation. Only Dabwali has elected women to the Assembly, and that too only twice. Santosh Chauhan Sarwan, daughter of Govardhan Das Chauhan, won the seat in 1991 on the Congress ticket, and Naina Chautala, mother of former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, won in 2014 on the INLD ticket.
Since 1967, the Sirsa constituency has seen 13 Assembly elections, but not once has a woman been elected as a legislator. The closest a woman came to winning was in 2014, when Sunita Setia, daughter of former Cabinet minister Lachhman Das, secured the third place with 38,742 votes.
After Selja’s success, there has been a slight shift, with more women from the Congress stepping forward to contest the upcoming Assembly elections. Punita Rani, who has been associated with the Congress since 2004, and is currently the block president of the Haryana Pradesh Mahila Congress, emphasised the growing political awareness among women, who now constituted 46 per cent of the electorate in the district. Given the opportunity, she claimed, she could effectively compete against established candidates.
Alongside Punita, Krishna Phogat has also expressed her intention to contest from Sirsa on a Congress ticket. Krishna Phogat joined the Congress four months ago, after spending 17 years with the INLD, where she was the district head of the women's cell and later the senior vice-president of the state women's cell. She has been elected as a councillor three times and served twice as the vice-president of the Sirsa Municipal Council. Krishna points out that only one woman, Sunita Duggal from the BJP in 2014, has ever been given a ticket from the Sirsa Assembly. In Ellenabad, Krishna Phogat and Santosh Beniwal have sought the Congress ticket. Santosh Beniwal is the current sarpanch of Darbakalan village, having won the 2023 election by 370 votes. She is also the general secretary of the Haryana Pradesh Mahila Congress and the national vice-president of the Sarpanch Association. Santosh says women are often overlooked in elections, despite being just as capable as men. She actively participated in the farmers' movement and led a 16-day hunger strike that secured a Rs 750 crore insurance claim for farmers.
Shimla Devi and Karamjit Kaur have applied for Congress tickets from Kalanwali (reserved) seat, while Kamla Devi, Vandana Nehra, Dr. Sonia, Paramjeet Kaur, and Sarla Manish Dhillon have sought ticket from Rania constituency. These women are all active members of the Congress. Natasha Sihag, former BJP district president and state executive committee member, pointed out that though women were not seen much in electoral politics, it didn’t mean they lacked capability. Women were highly influential in grassroots politics and should be given more opportunities in electoral roles as well, she said. While the BJP had reserved 33 per cent organisational roles for women, they wanted the party to reserve 20 per cent tickets for women as well. If more women were elected, it could pave the way for broader female representation in the future, she said.
Sihag said she was ready to contest from Ellenabad, underscoring her success in the 2016 block samiti election, where she won with the largest margin in the district.
