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Efforts to politically empower women and implement reservation in assemblies and Parliament are gaining momentum in the country, but the electoral history of Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh shows that

The path of women is still not easy in terms of political representation. In the seven decade long election history of the four assembly seats of the district, till now only one woman MLA has been able to reach the assembly.

If we look at the assembly politics of Sonbhadra district, the elections held from 1952 to 2022 have been dominated by male candidates. In this long political journey, the election of 2012 proved to be a historic exception, when Ruby Prasad won from Duddhi Assembly seat and achieved the distinction of becoming the first woman MLA of the district.

Ruby Prasad’s victory was considered a new beginning for women’s political participation at that time. It was hoped that in future more women would not only participate in the assembly elections but would also lead by winning. However, this hope could not turn into reality later.

Male candidates again dominate in 2022

In the 2022 assembly elections, only male candidates were victorious on all four seats of Sonbhadra district. It is clear from this that the participation of women in the politics of the district still remains very limited. Political analysts believe that women do not get adequate opportunities in the electoral field. Many times they are not given tickets at all and even if they do get tickets, they have less chances to win winnable seats.

Sonbhadra is a district with tribal, rural and social diversity. Here the participation of women in Panchayat and local body elections has continuously increased. Due to the reservation system, a large number of women have been elected as village heads, area panchayat members and district panchayat members. Despite this, the presence of women on big political platforms like the assembly remains almost negligible. The effect of increasing participation in local bodies has not yet been visible in the assembly elections.

Questions are being raised on ticket distribution

Political parties talk about women empowerment and equality in public forums, but at the time of ticket distribution the picture often looks different. Questions have been continuously raised on the commitment of political parties to contest elections for women and field them on strong seats. Experts say that unless political parties give adequate opportunities to women both at the organizational and electoral levels, real balance in political representation will not be established.

Big question of political participation of half the population

The electoral history of Sonbhadra is not just a story of statistics, but it is also an important question to the political participation of half the population. The question is whether women will remain only as voters or will they be ensured equal access to decision-making forums also.

Initiatives towards implementing 33 percent political reservation for women in the country are gaining momentum. At such a time, this is both an opportunity and a challenge for districts like Sonbhadra. If political parties and society together make efforts to bring women into the mainstream of leadership, the face of politics in the district may change in the coming years. At present, the figures show that in the electoral history of 70 years, Sonbhadra, which has four assembly seats, has sent only one woman MLA to the assembly. In such a situation, the debate on equal political representation has become more relevant than ever in the district.