Para, West Bengal: Overcoming an almost six-decade-old social barrier, 40 women from a village in West Bengal's Purulia district for the first time since independence exercised their franchise by voting in the assembly election yesterday, said an official.
"It is a great achievement for us that we have been able to make the women voters of Nutondi village in Raghunathpur block-II conscious of their voting rights. And they have turned up for voting in booth number 59 of Para assembly constituency for the first time in independent India," said election official and Para Block Development Officer (BDO) Kaushik Bhattacharya.
There are 691 women voters out of 1,452 electors in Nutondi village. Since independence, none of these women from conservative Muslim families in the village had ever voted.
Mental barrier
After the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, when the young BDO came to know that these women had always stayed away from the polling booths, he started making enquiries.
He found that not only had the women never participated in any election, but also that none of them even had electoral photo identity cards (Epic). All this while men in their families took part in the elections.
"There was no social prejudice or any religious diktat barring the women voters from exercising their franchise. It was only a mental segregation which prevented them so long from participating in the democratic exercise. We were waiting for someone who could come forward to break the shackles," Bhattacharya said.
Last year, a meeting was held in the village attended by the religious head, senior men and the government and Election Commission (EC) officials to ascertain what prevented the women from voting.
Registration
The officials concluded that these burqa-clad Muslim women were reluctant to remove their veil in the presence of male officials to get their photos clicked for the E-pic.
"Also, they were reluctant to vote because the elections are generally conducted by men," said the BDO.
So, the Election Commission and the state government appointed women officials who went from door to door to take the women voters' photographs and enlisted them in the electoral rolls.
"After repeated attempts, more than 200 out of 691 eligible women registered their names and they were provided E-pics," said Bhattacharya.
But Bhattacahrya is a bit disheartened by the low turnout of women. "We made sincere efforts from morning to bring the women voters to the polling booths. Our happiness would have been total had there been more participation from them," he said.
"It is a great achievement for us that we have been able to make the women voters of Nutondi village in Raghunathpur block-II conscious of their voting rights. And they have turned up for voting in booth number 59 of Para assembly constituency for the first time in independent India," said election official and Para Block Development Officer (BDO) Kaushik Bhattacharya.
There are 691 women voters out of 1,452 electors in Nutondi village. Since independence, none of these women from conservative Muslim families in the village had ever voted.
Mental barrier
After the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, when the young BDO came to know that these women had always stayed away from the polling booths, he started making enquiries.
He found that not only had the women never participated in any election, but also that none of them even had electoral photo identity cards (Epic). All this while men in their families took part in the elections.
"There was no social prejudice or any religious diktat barring the women voters from exercising their franchise. It was only a mental segregation which prevented them so long from participating in the democratic exercise. We were waiting for someone who could come forward to break the shackles," Bhattacharya said.
Last year, a meeting was held in the village attended by the religious head, senior men and the government and Election Commission (EC) officials to ascertain what prevented the women from voting.
Registration
The officials concluded that these burqa-clad Muslim women were reluctant to remove their veil in the presence of male officials to get their photos clicked for the E-pic.
"Also, they were reluctant to vote because the elections are generally conducted by men," said the BDO.
So, the Election Commission and the state government appointed women officials who went from door to door to take the women voters' photographs and enlisted them in the electoral rolls.
"After repeated attempts, more than 200 out of 691 eligible women registered their names and they were provided E-pics," said Bhattacharya.
But Bhattacahrya is a bit disheartened by the low turnout of women. "We made sincere efforts from morning to bring the women voters to the polling booths. Our happiness would have been total had there been more participation from them," he said.
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