Madhya Pradesh assembly election: Bhopal may get its first woman MLA

BHOPAL: The city of Begums, is likely to get its first ever woman MLA in this assembly elections. The main political parties, including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have fielded three candidates from the state capital.
There are seven assembly constituencies in Bhopal — Govindpura, Berasia, Uttar, Huzur, Dakshin Paschim, Narela and Madhya.
BJP has given ticket to Krishna Gaur from Govindpura constituency and Fatima Rasool Siddiqui from Uttar constituency, while Congress has given ticket to a woman candidate, Jayshree from Berasia.All the three candidates are contesting the assembly election for the first time.
It's not just the main political parties, but parties like AAP and BSP have also fielded women candidates from Bhopal. Altogether there are fourteen women candidates in the poll fray in the city, which is also highest ever. In the past three elections, three, four and five women respectively had contested elections.
There is at least one woman candidate in all the seven constituencies of Bhopal. If any of these candidates manages to win, she would create history and hold the record of becoming the first woman MLA from Bhopal.
The 14 women candidates for this assembly polls in Bhopal irrespective of political parties are Kavita Singh, Reena Saxena, Radha, Maya Charde, Krishna Gaur, Jolly Sarkar, Sita Ramji Pateriya, Pushplata Tiwari, Rani Yadav, Sana Naaz, Fatima Rasool Siddiqui, Arjumand Khanam, Jayshree and Anita Ahirwar.
Many women candidates are confident of their win. BJP’s Krishna Gaur, who is contesting from Govindpura constituency, the seat represented by her father-in-law and former chief minister Babulal Gaur for tenth time in a row, said that women empowerment is one of the main motive of her coming into politics. “It would be an honour to become the first woman MLA from Bhopal and I will try to live up to the expectations”, she said.
However, name of Maimoona Sultan cannot be missed while talking about woman leaders from Bhopal. Maimoona had contested from Kotri (Sehore) assembly constituency in 1951 and won. Bhopal was not a district then and came under Sehore.
Political analyst Girija Shankar said, “No woman candidate has ever won an assembly seat from Bhopal so far. But it is likely that the city will get its first woman MLA this time”.
The state has already voted for the assembly polls on November 28 and the counting is scheduled on December 11.