There is a long way to go till women realise their political power, says Sangeeta Kushwaha. Living in tiny Baghauch Ghat village of Uttar Pradesh, Sangeeta has toiled for years to encourage women to assert their social and political rights.

“Nothing is easy for village women. They have not realised the power,” she says, adding that men in the village want to dominate women’s lives in all possible ways — even to decide whom she should vote for.

In Kushinagar district, women from the backward Musahar community say that it is not necessary that a woman politician should be different from male politician. “No one has helped to change our situation,” they say, even as Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have joined hands and the cadre is talking about the chances of BSP chief Mayawati becoming the next Prime Minister.

Aruna Chavan, a professional from sugar-rich Kolhapur city of Maharashtra, says that educated women won’t listen to their men. “I voted for a candidate whom I wanted to even as family members had decided to vote for a particular party candidate. I felt that no party or candidate was suitable but still I wanted to vote as it is my right,” she says.

In Baramati Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar’s daughter and sitting MP Supriya Sule has locked horns with Kanchan Kul, wife of MLA Rahul Kul, who is with the BJP-Sena alliance. “Though both candidates are women, they represent their dynasty and not women. Anyone from an ordinary family can’t even think of contesting from here,” says Sneha Mane. Baramati is not reserved for a woman candidate, but Pawar has handed over his bastion to his daughter.

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