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Sept 13, 1999
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WOMEN CANDIDATES
Ladies in Poll CombatFrom 599 contestants in the 1996 polls, the number of woman candidates
dropped to 274 last year. This year, if the picture looks a shade brighter, the credit
should go largely to the Congress. It is still unlikely , however, that the number
of victorious candidates will cross last year's figure of 43. A look at Some of the women
in the fray.
If the number of women contestants in the
1998 general elections is an indicator, there is hardly any chance of the 13th Lok Sabha
having a better female representation. From 599 women contesting in the 1996 poll, the
figure tumbled to 274 last year. This year, if the picture looks a shade brighter after
the final withdrawal of nominations, the credit should go largely to the Congress. Its
president has announced that at least 16 per cent of the party candidates would be women.
The BJP fielded 32 women candidates last year, which is down to 23 now. The Congress can
more than make up for that if it raises its share of women contestants from 38 to around
70.
It is still unlikely, however, that the number of
victorious women members will cross last year's mark of 43, which is 7.91 per cent in a
House of 543. That's a far cry from the statutory 33 per cent reservation for women as
envisaged by the jinxed Women's Reservation Bill. Nonetheless there will be a gradual rise
in the number of women members if their success rate stays at least as high as last year's
15.69 per cent, which is way above the general success rate of 9.2 per cent in the 1998
poll.
It is perhaps the rarity of women participating in the
elections that makes their battle interesting. A team of India Today correspondents and
photographers profile the women candidates fighting it out among themselves or against
their male rivals in all corners of the country.
Bijoya Chakravarty
BJP, Guwahati, Assam
HURDLES FOR THE RIVAL
Main Rival: Bhubaneswar Kalita (INC)
1998 Results: INC -- 2,85,482; BJP -- 1,57,309; AGP -- 1,23,453
Bijoya Chakravarty, 64, was an athlete in her youth, running 100 m in less than
12.5 seconds. Pitted against Congress heavyweight and former winner Bhubaneswar Kalita and
with no AGP candidate this time, she is caught in a two-person race. Which may well be to
her advantage because, as a leader of the "anti-foreigner" movement 20 years ago
and the BJP candidate now, she straddles the entire anti-Congress spectrum. "We have
to weed out the corrupt," she thunders. It's doubtful though if the barb will home in
on the Congress, which is not in power in the state or the Centre.
Louise Fernandes
Congress, Farukkhabad, Uttar Pradesh
DYNASTIC ROSE BETWEEN TWO THORNS
Main Rival: Rambaksh Singh (BJP) and Chandrabhanu Singh (SP)
1998 Results: BJP -- 2,24,636; SP -- 1,92,425; INC -- 1,80,531
"Madam" is the buzzword in this constituency. "Haath par haath,
madam ke saath." She may be a lesser "madam" than Sonia Gandhi but, as
state Congress President Salman Khurshid's wife, Louise has undisputed claim to the
"bahu-dom" of the local first family. Dressed in white khadi, she drives out of
the palatial home of the late Zakir Husain, the Khurshids' noble ancestor, on a day's
journey through the dirt tracks claiming to be their bahu, beti and behen. What may work
in her favour is the deep dissension within the local BJP and SP ranks. The BJP-sp fight
has brightened "madam's" chances.
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar
Trinamool Cong, Howrah, West Bengal
NEW EGG ON LEFT'S FACE
Main Rival: Swadesh Chakravarty (CPI-M)
1998 Results: Trinamool Congress -- 4,37,224; CPI(M) -- 4,30,689; INC --
1,34,787
Dastidar is an ultrasonographer who helps barren couples have babies artificially.
Now she has swapped the antiseptic overall for resplendent saris in Trinamool colours to
campaign 16 hours a day through the squalid roads of this congested constituency. With the
sitting Trinamool MP denied renomination, Dastidar's task may be difficult unless she
carves out a chunk of the Congress votes. Such embryonal shifts seem to be working.
R. Janakiammal
Puthiya Tamilagam, Central Chennai, Tamil Nadu
MIDGET BETWEEN TWO SUMOS
Main Rival: Murasoli Maran (DMK)
1998 Results: DMK -- 3,00,774; AIADMK -- 2,29,047; Puthiya Tamilagam --
1,385
With such uproariously insignificant performance of her party last year,
38-year-old Janakiammal's contest is noteworthy, if at all, for her daring. Wedged between
former Union industry minister Murasoli Maran and Indian National League leader Abdul
Latheef, who is supported by the AIADMK, this Adidravidar (Dalit) mother of a coolie son
is putting up a Lilliputian battle against giants. That too in a state where the three
fronts, including the one with TMC to which her party belongs, have put up only five women
candidates in the 39 constituencies. Exuding typical under-class gusto, this widow knocks
at the door of every slum-dweller in this sprawling constituency with a dozen Dalit youths
in tow.
Sudha Rai
Congress, Ghosi, Uttar Pradesh
Main Rival: Siddharth Rai (JD-U)
1998 Results: Samata Party -- 2,22,126; BSP -- 2,03,752; SP -- 1,98,278;
INC -- 13,382
It is the replay of a Bollywood family drama. After 1998 MP Kalpnath Rai's death,
his widow Sudha was thought by the Congress to be his natural successor in the electoral
battle. Rai had rejoined the Congress months before his death. However, Rai's son by an
earlier marriage, 27-year-old Siddharth, a school dropout, thought the political mantle
was his. The JD(U) with its Samata-BJP allies seized the opportunity. The family drama has
thus taken a political twist. Ghosi is enjoying.
Pratibha Lokhande
BJP, Baramati, Maharashtra
TAKING ON THE GOLIATH
Main Rival: Sharad Pawar (NCP)
1998 Result: INC -- 5,29,059; BJP -- 2,60,875
Last year, when the BJP's V.B. Kakade finished with barely half the votes the
Maratha strongman had polled, it was still considered an achievement in BJP circles. In
1991, when Lokhande took up the challenge, she got just 47,000 votes against Pawar's 5.6
lakh. Because of the Congress split Lokhande has clawed her way back into the contest this
time screaming that Baramati is not Pawar's jaidad (fiefdom). Unfortunately for her,
that's what the constituency still is.
Jayashree Banerjee
BJP, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh
BHABHIJI'S SAFFRON AURA
Main Rival: Chandra Mohan Das (INC)
1998 RESULT: BJP -- 3,00,584; INC -- 2,16,469; JD -- 58,129
Jayasree Banerjee, three-time MLA from the city with a large Bengali-speaking
population, was denied ticket by the BJP for the assembly elections last year. This year,
however, the party replaced its ageing former MP Babulal Paranjape from the constituency
by the 61-year-old bhabhiji, a 'true-saffron' Bengali housewife whose husband was a
whole-time RSS pracharak. The colour saffron spills on to the rival camp too, as her
Congress opponent Chandra Mohan Das is the scion of a family of cow-protection crusaders.
Though Banerjee's campaign is limping as the local BJP leadership hasn't quite accepted
her, the party's margin of lead is decisive.
Mangamma Muniswamy
BJP, Kolar, Karnataka
THE CHALLENGE OF THE WIDOW
Main Rival: K.H. Muniyappa (INC)
1998 RESULT: INC -- 3,04,261; JD -- 2,26,289; BJP -- 2,25,368
Widowed after her IAS husband died in a car crash in 1993, Mangamma first launched
herself in "social service" (read JD politics). She is now a BJP candidate in a
reserved constituency where the party, despite its good performance last year, doesn't
have much organisation. Mangamma covers 200 km every day with barely 10 supporters. Being
a Scheduled Caste, she may be the right foil for three-time winner Muniyappa.
Geetha Jeevan
DMK, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu
DAUGHTER OF THE PARTY
Main Rival: Paul Hector Pandian (AIADMK)
1998 Results: AIADMK -- 2,47,823; DMK -- 2,40,919; Puthiya Tamilagam --
86,419
At 29, Geetha has the beginner's confidence when she says, "I'm a sure
winner." If it proves correct, the credit should go equally to her DMK district
secretary father who has put the organisation at her service and to former assembly
Speaker Pandian who is known for his arrogant public behaviour.
GRIPPING FIGHTS
A Congress convert faces a Naidu favourite and a CM vs PM battle
KHAMMAM
Andhra Pradesh |
A TOUCH OF
GLAMOUR
Swarna Kumari, TDP vs Renuka Chowdhary, Congress
1998 Results: Congress -- 3,63,747; CPI(M)
-- 3,52,083; BJP -- 1,17,926
After the volte face of Renuka Chowdhary, who was TDP's most urbane face, Andhra
Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had to field somebody at least half as
polished against her. And certainly a woman. So he talked Swarna Kumari into quitting a
government job and facing the prize catch of the Congress. Switching roles from a low-key
rural development officer to a Lok Sabha candidate, Kumari is concentrating on small
gatherings. Chowdhary, on the other hand, is a lover of the microphone. She tut tuts Naidu
for "making an employee quit j her job" but the TDP is no pushover in a
constituency where the Marxists, piggybacking on it, finished a close number two. |
BARODA
Gujarat |
'BEN'-STORMING
Jayaben Thakkar, BJP vs Urmilaben Patel, Congress
1998 results: BJP -- 3,87,798; Congress --
3,35,381; RJP -- 52,909
In Gujarat's cultural capital, Urmilaben, widow of former chief minister Chimanbhai
Patel, takes on the dynamic Jayaben Thakkar, winner of the seat last year. Weighing under
her dignified status, Urmilaben dwells on her husband's achievements while Thakkar's
campaign centres on A.B. Vajpayee's track record. The contest is between the memory of a
late CM and the charisma of a sitting PM. |
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