KENDRAPARA: The move to empower women by reserving 50 per cent seats for them seems to be failing its purpose in Kendrapara. Many women candidates are being fielded as proxies for their male relatives, especially for husbands. Sources said, many former male office bearers are fielding women candidates from their families to contest in the panchayat elections under the reserved category with the hope of usurping power once the seats are won.
While they are seen engaging in vociferous campaigns for their women, it is believed that the latter are being pitted merely as proxies just because the seats are reserved for women. Locals feel, women will soon be relegated to the background if they win as the male members will anyway wield power.
Swagatika Jena (45) is contesting for the first time for sarpanch post from Kansar panchayat of Kendrapara block. Her husband Pradyumna (50) had been elected as Kansar sarpanch twice in a row but this time, he chose to field his wife as the sarpanch post is reserved for women candidates. Subhadra Rout (50), who filed her nomination paper recently to contest from Chakoda for sarpanch post has a similar story.
In the last panchayat polls, voters elected her husband Bharat Rout as the sarpanch of Chakoda. “Since the post is reserved for women this time, my husband pursued me to contest. From filling up the election form to garnering votes and meeting bigwigs in the village, he is doing it all on my behalf,” she said.
Similarly, Shiva Prasad Biswal was a samiti member of Chakoda. Now, his 30-year-old daughter-in-law Mitali Samantray is contesting for the same post. The scene is the same in Gulanagar panchayat where Namita Swain (30) is in the race for the sarpanch post in place of her husband Pitabas Behera, a former sarpanch.
Many women candidates, sources said, are not even able to speak on village issues and depend on their male relatives to fill in for them. However, Biswanath Behera, a social worker of Kendrapara, had a different take on the issue. “Not every woman candidate is a proxy. There are exceptions and some of them are handling their campaigns well without any male support,” he said. For the upcoming polls, 125 women candidates will contest for sarpanch posts in Kendrapara district.