Bihar urban civic poll: women win on 16 out of 17 Mayor seats, a manual scavenger elected as Deputy Mayor in Gaya

Political commentators say results show that women are being empowered at the local level in Bihar politics

In the urban local body election in Bihar, women have scripted history by winning 16 out of the total 17 posts of Mayor and similarly, bagging 11 Deputy Mayor seats. In Gaya, a manual scavenger for several decades, Chinta Devi, was elected to the post of Deputy Mayor.

The first phase of civic election was held on December 18 and the results had come out on December 20 while the second phase was held on December 28 and the results were announced on Friday. Out of 17 Mayor posts, nine were reserved for women but they defeated their male counterparts on seven more seats as well. Only one seat, Gaya, went to a male candidate, Ganesh Paswan.

For the first time, in this municipal election, people had voted directly to elect Mayors and Deputy Mayors along with ward councillors. Earlier, only elected ward councillors elected Mayors and Deputy Mayors.

Ms. Devi, a manual scavenger for past 40 years, has been elected to the post of Deputy Mayor from the pilgrim town of Gaya. “I’ll do work to make our town beautiful and the whole world will see this,” Ms. Devi, who had also worked as a vegetable vendor told mediapersons after winning the poll. “She has created history and people of the town have made it happen”, said former Deputy Mayor of the town Mohan Srivastava.

Women Mayors were elected in Patna (Sita Sahu retained the seat), Ara, Bhagalpur, Sasaram, Samastipur, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Motihari, Chhapra, Purnia, Begusarai, Biharsharief, Bettiah, Sitamarhi, Munger and Katihar. Women Deputy Mayors won in Patna, Ara, Darbhanga, Sasaram, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Chhapra, Purnia, Begusarai, Biharsharief and Bettiah. In ward council polls too, majority of women have won.

In Chappra, Rakhi Gupta, who hails from a prominent business family of the town and holds a management degree, was elected Mayor defeating several male and women contenders from political background. As many as 24 contenders, including 15 men, were in the fray but Ms. Gupta emerged triumphant. Similarly, in Sitamarhi, Nalanda, Munger and other places too, women had to battle over 20 candidates to become Mayors.

“This municipal election results show how women are becoming empowered in politics at the local level in Bihar. This is a positive change in the State”, political commentator Nawal Kishore Choudhary said. “What was surprising in this urban civic body election was that women were not only contesting the poll but votes were getting converted in their favour,” political analyst Ajay Kumar told The Hindu.