Women candidates from Kurukshetra district fail to leave impact in polls

Six women candidates contested the Assembly elections from Kurukshetra district on the tickets of various political parties, but failed to leave any major impact in these polls. While one woman candidate each was in fray from Ladwa, Thanesar and Pehowa segments, three women contested from Shahabad segment of Kurukshetra district.

No woman candidate has made it to the Haryana Assembly from the constituencies of Kurukshetra district so far.

In Ladwa, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) had fielded Sapna Barshami, daughter-in-law of former MLA Sher Singh Barshami. However, she managed to get just 7,439 votes and stood at the fourth position. The seat was won by caretaker Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini by a margin of 16,054 votes. He got 70,177 votes while Congress candidate and outgoing MLA Mewa Singh got 54,123 votes.

In Shahabad, of nine candidates in fray, three were women candidates. While Mission Ekta Party’s Kanta Aladia stood fourth with 1,333 votes, Aam Aadmi Party’s Asha Rani stood fifth and got 932 votes, Jannayak Janta Party’s Rajeeta Singh stood sixth with 431 votes. The election was won by Congress candidate Ramkaran Kala.

In Pehowa, Jannayak Janta Party’s Dr Sukhwinder Kaur contested the election and stood fourth with 1,253 votes. The seat was won by Congress candidate Mandeep Chatha, by defeating BJP’s Jai Bhagwan Sharma.

In Thanesar Assembly segment, Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Tanuja was the only female candidate against eight male candidates. She managed to get 1,709 votes and stood at the fourth position. The seat was won by Congress leader Ashok Arora by defeating BJP’s Subhash Sudha, who had won this segment in 2014 and 2019.

Tanuja said, “I have been associated with the INLD but since the party had an alliance with the BSP in the state, I contested as BSP candidate in the election. While our party has been giving adequate representation to women candidates in the election, the local scenario in which the entire election was stuck between two people (Ashok Arora and Subhash Sudha), no other candidate got the votes and attention of the public. In the past four elections, two each have been won by Ashok Arora and Subhash Sudha, but I am confident that the people of Thanesar will give opportunity to new people, too, in the next election.”

“No woman has been ever elected MLA from Kurukshetra district, but women politicians have been coming forward and participating actively in elections. We have been raising public issues strongly and I am confident that I will again get the opportunity to contest and the people will elect me the next time. We will soon hold a meeting with party workers and supporters to find out the reasons behind our defeat and fewer will improve our position,” she said.