Nurpur, Oct 25 (ANI): As the political parties geared up for the upcoming assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh, leaders have promised to work for the development and empowerment of the women folk in the rural areas.
The leaders believed that giving women more voice in India's political arena would help end gender discrimination and crimes such as rape, child marriage and female foeticide.
Expressing dismay as the number of women losing the elections has increased, Congress leader Vidya Stokes said: "Actually, in Himachal I would say that we are very lucky. Women are very strong by themselves basically, the girls are very hardworking, women are very hardworking and the only problem is when we would talk about that Panchayati Raj system (local government systems), they are doing pretty well and even Zila Parishad (district council), they are doing well. But as far as parliament and assembly constituency, we are not doing very well."
"Last time we had seven women and there were only three who won. Second time when I came I was the only single one, the rest of the ladies lost. So, there has to be some reason why women are not voting for women. This is my analysis, I may be wrong. But I think this is analysis because I have been observing for last five years that every time I have seen them going down and down," Stokes added.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kalraj Mishra said that 50 percent reservation has been given to women in local bodies election and also promised to fund for the education and marriage of girls.
"We have taken up the issue of women empowerment. We had also given 50 percent reservation to women in local bodies election. We have promised to give rupees 10,000 to the poor girls. We have also made arrangements to provide rupees 21,000 for the marriage of the girls. We have expressed concern over the education of the girls. We have also promised to provide the girls with free uniform, bag, and dictionary," said Mishra.
The legislative assembly consists of 68 seats, and Bharatiya Janata Party won 42 in the previous election.
The single-phase election in Himachal Pradesh will take place on November 4 while counting of votes is scheduled on December 20. (ANI)