By Ammu Joseph
Issues of special concern to women are missing from election campaigns in the five states where Assembly polls are currently on, according to this Hindustan Times video in which Lalita Panicker is in conversation with Aasheesh Sharma.
Is this because women are not yet seen as a “vote bank” despite the fact that female voters are turning out in ever larger numbers (recently overtaking male voters in Punjab, according to the Election Commission of India: 78.14% to 76.69%) and, increasingly, exercising their franchise independently of male family members?
According to this report, women may well determine the results of the ongoing elections in U.P. If that’s the case, how come political parties and leaders don’t seem to think it’s important to address the particular concerns of this sizeable electorate?
