Women for the Win: One Constituency in Uttarakhand Has Only Seen Female Winners for 21 Years

Women for the Win: One Constituency in Uttarakhand Has Only Seen Female Winners for 21 Years

Yamkeshwar constituency is known for women winners. (Image: Renu Bisht/Facebook)

Renu Bisht, who is going up against six male candidates, will uphold Yamkeshwar as women's bastion if she wins.

News18.com Dehradun
Last Updated:January 31, 2022, 12:00 IST
FOLLOW US ON:

News Desk

Although Uttarakhand has seen few women ministers and no female chief minister yet, one constituency in the hill district of Pauri Garhwal has always elected women ever since the formation of the state in 2000. Yamkeshwar constituency has a total of 90,638 voters, out of which nearly half, 42, 075, are women, as per a Times of India report.

For the first three elections, from 2002 to 2012, BJP leader Vijaya Barthwal won from the seat consecutively. Barthwal beat Sarojini Kaintura of Congress by a margin of 1,447 votes in the first election. In 2007, she defeated Renu Bisht of Congress by 2,841 votes and in 2012, she won again with a considerable margin. Barthwal also served as a cabinet minister in the governments of B C Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

In 2017, BJP candidate Ritu Khanduri, the daughter of former chief minister B C Khanduri, won the seat. This year, the BJP has given ticket to Renu Bisht, who contested as an independent candidate and got maximum votes after Khanduri. Bisht, who is going up against six male candidates, will uphold Yamkeshwar as women's bastion if she wins.

A Doon-based political analyst told TOI that the scenario looks more like a coincidence rather than strategy by political parties. However, women make up the backbone of hills, by outnumbering men in 33 of 34 seats. Even so, participation of women in mainstream politics remains low. Besides Ritu Khanduri in Yamkeshwar, there are only four women MLAs at present.

Elections will be held in Uttarakhand on February 14 to elect 70 members of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on March 10.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here.