Visakhapatnam: Women on a par with men in local body elections

Visakhapatnam: As a majority of seats are earmarked for women in the forthcoming local body elections, women candidates are going to reign supreme.

The local body elections which are going to commence after a long gap, women filed nominations for Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) as well as Muncipal Corporation with enthusiasm.

Of the 39 ZPTC posts, 20 were reserved for women.

While 337 were reserved for women MPTC posts out of a total 625, 49 posts were reserved for the fairer sex out of the 98 corporator posts in the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC).

With 50 per cent seats allotted to women candidates in the local body elections, they are going to play a crucial in the decision-making process for the development of Visakhapatnam in future. Since many of the male candidates have been striving hard for the respective party and waiting eagerly to contest in the local body elections, they did get little disappointed with women taking charge of a majority of seats.

To provide solace to the party aspirants, priority was accorded to their family members to field in the municipal elections.

A similar trend was witnessed even in 2007 local body elections. With many wards being contested by women candidates then, their respective husbands extended enormous support in making them win in the elections and also essaying their role for the subsequent five years.

Earlier, when men used to head as corporators, there was a muted participation from women in the political affairs.

However, the trend has changed now. With women being proactive in the political scene, they are independent enough to play their part efficiently all by themselves.

As expectations soar, women are going to take the lead in redefining several constituencies across the district in future.