Patna: Amid much hype around the Women's Reservation Bill by the BJP led Central government, the saffron party has not fielded a single woman candidate in the 17 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Bihar.
The names of all the 17 candidates of Bihar were announced in the list released on Saturday by BJP. In the list are Sanjay Jaiswal from West Champaran, Radha Mohan Singh from East Champaran, Ashok Kumar Yadav from Madhubani, Pradeep Kumar Singh from Araria, Gopal Ji Thakur from Darbhanga, Raj Bhushan Nishad from Muzaffarpur, Janardan Singh Sigriwal from Maharajganj, Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Saran. , Nityanand Rai from Ujiarpur, Giriraj Singh from Begusarai, Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib, Ram Kripal Yadav from Patliputra, RK Singh from Arrah, Mithilesh Tiwari from Buxar, Shivesh Ram from Sasaram, Sushil Kumar Singh from Aurangabad and Vivek Thakur from Nawada. Got the ticket. There is not a single woman candidate in the list.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been highlighting the Women's Reservation Bill as the major achievement of the BJP government at the Centre, the snub to women candidates in Bihar has left the saffron party in the dock.
On the contrary, the party has denied a ticket to sitting woman MP Rama Devi, the only woman MP to win the Lok Sabha elections from Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 from Sheohar. The party has handed the seat to the JDU as part of the pre-poll alliance. The JDU has named Anand Mohan's wife Lovely Anand as the candidate on the seat.
While Lovely comes from the Rajput community, Rama Devi comes from Vaishya community. Her husband Brij Bihari Prasad was a minister in the previous Bihar government.
Only Two Women Candidates From NDA: Apart from BJP-JDU and Hindustani Awam Morcha, no party has yet officially released the list of its candidates. While not a single woman got the ticket from BJP, JDU has given a chance to Lovely Anand from Sheohar and Vijayalakshmi Devi from Siwan. HAM Patron Jitan Ram Manjhi will contest from Gaya and RLM Chief Upendra Kushwaha himself will contest from Karakat, while there is no possibility of any woman getting a ticket by Chirag Paswan's LJP on the five seats.
More Women Participation in Opposition Candidates' List: The Grand Alliance has not yet released the list of candidates. According to sources, Archana Ravidas from Jamui and Anita Devi from Munger have been given the tickets, while the names of Misa Bharti from Patliputra, Rohini Acharya from Saran and Bima Bharti from Purnia are doing the rounds. Congress can give ticket to actress Neha Sharma from Bhagalpur seat.
Women's Reservation Act: In September last year, the Modi government at the Centre had brought the Nari Shakti Vandan Act to provide 33 percent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on 20 September and in the Rajya Sabha on 21 September. Later on September 29, President Draupadi Murmu also gave her approval to the bill. However, the bill will be implemented only when the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats is done after the census.
