Karnataka: 25 seats and just one woman

Bengaluru/Shivamogga: This should call the bluff on all that talk about empowering women. As many as 25 seats in the Legislative Council are going to polls on December 27 but barring Gayatri Gowda, a sitting Congress member from Chikkamagaluru, there is no other woman candidate fighting the polls in any constituency.

Leaders of major parties feel that women would find it difficult to fight these elections as money power is a decisive factor and makes all the difference between victory and defeat. Some women politicians too agree with party leaders on this issue.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior woman Congress leader disclosed that the party could have fielded at least 3-4 women candidates in the 20 seats it is contesting. "Not all men contesting on the party ticket will win, in such a scenario the party could have thought of fielding women so that they get a platform to groom themselves as leaders in future," the leader explained. The Congress is taking all pains to ensure the victory of men candidates and is contesting only 20 seats when it could have battled it out in all 25, she said.

Agreeing with this view, women leaders in various parties including BJP and JD(S)-which too have not put up any woman candidate- point out that the Legislative Council elections to the local bodies constituencies require huge money power and it may be difficult for women to arrange such a huge quantity of cash. "Moreover, panchayat leaders in these constituencies usually prefer men candidates, they may not like to back a woman which is another reason why parties prefer men for these polls," the source added.

7 left in fray for Shivamogga seat
As many as seven candidates remain in the fray for the MLC election from the Shivamogga local authorities constituency after two of them withdrew their nomination papers. Mohammed Usman Sharief from Channagiri in Davangere district and Shankar Rao of Bhadravathi have withdrawn their nominations. Nine candidates had filed their nomination papers. The constituency is likely to witness a triangular contest among BJP, Congress and JD(S) nominees in Shivamogga constituency which includes Channagiri and Honnali taluks of Davangere district.

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