BJD takes lead in elding women in Assembly polls, but family ties get priority
The Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) nomination of 22 female candidates for the Assembly election, though ostensibly an attempt to promote gender equality in ticket distribution, reveals an inconvenient truth as the majority of these women happen to be spouses or daughters of MLAs and inuential gures within the party’s existing power structure.
Although most political parties are reluctant to nominate female candidates which leads to a stark under-representation of women in electoral politics, there has been improvement in the situation during past few elections.
The regional party, championing the cause of increased women’s representation in electoral politics, has put forward 22 female candidates out of the 117 announced for the Assembly election so far. This marks an enhancement in female candidate participation compared to the 2019 election, where only 20 out of 147 candidates were women. Notably, in the previous election, 12 BJD women candidates had emerged victorious.
Interestingly, out of the 22 women in the fray, 13 are related to former and current MLAs and MPs, making up nearly 60% of the total female candidates.
Dipali Das, the daughter of the late former Minister Naba Kisore Das, has been renominated for the Jharsuguda seat. Meanwhile, Alaka Mohanty, the widow of former Speaker Kishore Mohanty, is once again in the fray following her victory in the bypoll for the neighbouring Brajarajanagar seat.
Rita Sahu, a current Minister and the wife of the late former Congress MLA Subal Sahu, has been renominated for the Bijepur seat. Another ministerial colleague, Tukuni Sahu, is the widow of the former BJD leader Abhimanyu Sahu.
In Ganjam district, the BJD has chosen Manjula Swain, the widow of former BJD MP Ladu Kishore Swain, as its candidate for the Aska constituency while the party has placed its trust in Sanghamitra Swain, the wife of BJD MLA Purnachandra Swain, for the Surada constituency.
Candidates Latika Naik and Nabina Naik are the wives of Subas Gond and Dusmant Naik, respectively, both of whom contested the 2019 Assembly elections on BJD tickets. In Badasahi, Basta, Paradip, and Nabarangpur, women candidates have been selected allegedly on basis of their inuence of their spouse.
However, there are selfmade women candidates like Pramilla Mallick, who contests from Binjharpur in Jajpur district. Ms. Mallick has climbed the political ladder through her efforts and has gone on to become Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly and Cabinet Minister.
“It is a clear case of making virtue out of necessity. The party wants to give higher representation to women while at the same time, it does not want to hamper its winning probability,” said Rabi Das, veteran journalist and a political commentator. Mr. Das further said the BJD has at least attempted to increase women’s representation in electoral politics whereas other parties like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have lagged behind in this aspect.