Yamkeshwar

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The assembly constituency

2002-17: only women win

January 31, 2022: The Times of India

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand has had very few women ministers and no female chief minister till date but Yamkeshwar constituency in the hill district of Pauri Garhwal has always elected women ever since the state was formed in 2000. The seat has a total of 90,638 voters, of which nearly half (42,075) are women.

From the first assembly elections in 2002 to the one in 2012, BJP leader Vijaya Barthwal won from the seat for three straight terms. In 2002, she defeated Sarojini Kaintura of Congress by a margin of 1,447 votes. In 2007, she defeated Renu Bisht of Congress by 2841 votes and in 2012, won again with a comfortable margin. She also served as a cabinet minister in the governments of BC Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. In 2017, BJP gave the Yamkeshwar ticket to Ritu Khanduri, daughter of former chief minister BC Khanduri, and she also won from here. This time, BJP has fielded Renu Bisht, who had contested as an independent from the seat in 2017 and got the maximum votes after Khanduri. Bisht is up against six other male contenders from the seat and if she wins, Yamkeshwar’s reputation as a ‘women’s bastion’ will remain.

Commenting on the trend, Doon-based analyst Anoop Nautiyal, said, “It looks more like a coincidence than a well-crafted strategy by political parties. That said, women are the backbone of democracy in hills, with women voters outnumbering men in 33 of 34 hill assembly seats during the 2017 assembly polls. Parties must give more tickets to women and ensure that they are at the forefront of policies in Uttarakhand.”

According to the latest voter list released by the election commission, Uttarakhand has a total of 81.43 lakh voters -- 42.24 lakh male and 39.19 lakh female.