Though women have been participating in political activities, when it comes to giving mandates they are being ignored.
Srinagar: Despite the fact that former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has announced that she will fight from Anantnag parliamentary segment, there is very low participation of women in the coming Lok Sabha elections in Jammu & Kashmir. According to State Election Department data, out of 62 candidates who have filed their nominations for the Lok Sabha poll in Jammu & Kashmir so far, there are only two women in the fray. Among them, one Kanta Andhota has withdrawn her nomination from Jammu Poonch constituency thus keeping only Meenakshi as independent candidate from Udhampur parliamentary segment.
National Conference (NC) has nominated Dr Farooq Abdullah as its candidate for the Srinagar Parliamentary segment and avoided giving mandate to their former MLA from Habba Kadal, Shamima Firdous.
In the Kashmir Valley, already there is negligible presence of women in electoral politics and even in the urban bodies and panchayat elections, there is low participation.
In the Jammu region, though women have been participating in different political activities, when it comes to giving mandates they are being ignored.
“We have been on the forefront in Jammu, but most of the political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress ignore us when it comes to giving mandates,” said Priya, a prominent political worker in Jammu region. It is in place to mention that even in Ladakh region, women have a very low presence in elections.