Women to claim place in local governance

Strengthening of Women Empowerment through Electoral Process Project, a new initiative to encourage participation of women in the upcoming Gram Panchayat elections, was launched here on Monday.

Addressing the media, Padmini Ananth, Senior Programme Associate, The Hunger Project, said that the project aims to empower women, bring in good governance and strengthen democracy by encouraging leadership of elected women representatives in the panchayats.

The campaign has been launched in eight districts- Dakshina Kannada, Chikmagalur, Chikkaballapur, Chamarajnagar, Gadag, Kolar and Davangere.

She added that in the 2015 panchayat polls there will be a 50 per cent reservation for women. This will give women a unique opportunity, especially from marginalised communities, to step forward and claim a place in local governance and influence decision making at the panchayat level. The campaign does not promote any individual, political ideology or party.

It primarily focusses on enabling women to exercise their vote in a rightful manner. Also the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution makes it mandatory to reserve seats for women in elections. But through the campaign, the aim is also to reach out to unreserved seats, Padmini stated.