Only seven women in poll fray in Yamunanagar district

After the scrutiny of nomination papers, only seven women candidates are left in the poll fray from Yamunanagar district. Some of them may withdraw their nomination papers till September 16, the last date for withdrawing nominations.

From 1962 to 2019, only four women leaders — Shanno Devi, Dr Kamla Verma, Dr Krishna Pandit and Renu Bala — were elected as MLAs from here. Before 1989, Yamunanagar  was part of Ambala district. At present, this district has four Assembly constituencies — Sadhaura, Jagadhri, Yamunanagar and Radaur.

According to information, not a single woman candidate is contesting the Assembly election from the Radaur Assembly constituency of the district in the upcoming Assembly election.

Sitting MLA and Congress candidate Renu Bala, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Reeta Rani and Independent candidate Pooja Nagra are contesting election from the reserved Sadhaura Assembly constituency.

Two women candidates — Nirmaljit Kaur of Indian Praja Congress and Kanchan of Bhartiya Shakti Chetna Party — are in fray from the Yamunanagar Assembly constituency.

Meanwhile, Independent candidate Afshan Akram and Soni of Indian Praja Congress are contesting from the Jagadhri Assembly constituency.

Shanno Devi, the first and only woman Speaker of the Haryana Legislative Assembly, represented the Jagadhri Assembly constituency from 1962 to 1966.

In the Yamunanagar Assembly constituency, Dr Kamla Verma of BJP was elected in 1977, 1987 and 1996; and in 2005, Dr Krishna Pandit of Congress was elected from here. No woman candidate became an MLA from the Radaur Assembly constituency from 1977 to 2019.

“Although the number of women is continuously increasing in the political field, there is a need to increase this number further,” said sitting Congress MLA Renu Bala.

The Congress party has fielded Renu Bala from the Sadhaura Assembly constituency, but the BJP has not fielded any woman candidate from any Assembly constituency of the district this time.