Women voters to play important role in Rajnandgaon by-poll

Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, Mar 28 (UNI) Women electorate will play an important role in the by-election in Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency, where polling is scheduled for tomorrow.

The gender ratio in the Lok Sabha constituency is 1023 women as against 1000 men. Significantly, more women had been turning out to exercise their franchise in the past elections and poll percentage of women electorate had been more than that of male voters.

Under these circumstances, the victory of a candidate could depend heavily on female voters, political observers opine.

Rajnandgaon was the first district in the state where self-help groups (SHGs) for women were formed. More than 20,000 women SHGs exist in the state. However, these SHGs do not subscribe to a particular ideology or political party.

Political parties had kept the female population and their level of awareness in mind while running their election campaign.

The Congress gave the charge of electioneering for the party to former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi's wife Renu Jogi. For the BJP, Chief Minister Raman Singh's wife Veena Singh, BJP Vice-President Karuna Shukla and state party spokesperson Saroj Pandey did the work.

An interesting aspect of this by-election is that many voters, including women, are not aware why the by-poll was caused. However, women associated with SHGs in Mokhla Mudpar, Sargi and Bharegaon told UNI that they would exercise their franchise. But they did not disclose for whom they would cast their votes.

'Ma Bambleshwari' SHG's member Asha Devi told UNI that she did not know why the by-poll was taking place. However, she would exercise her franchise.

The by-election was necessitated due to expulsion of BJP MP Pradeep Gandhi from Lok Sabha for his involvement in the 'Cash for query' scandal.

UNI