Ludhiana: First-time women sarpanches take charge to redefine village politics

Hundreds of women and young first-time sarpanches converged on Friday at Dhanasu village in Ludhiana as 10,031 newly elected village heads from 19 districts of the state were administered oath by chief minister Bhagwant Mann.

Former Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal was the chief guest at the event. “I was encouraged by my family and villagers to fight this election. I want to serve my village and make sure that I do my best,” says 33-year-old Baljeet Kaur, who has been elected as sarpanch of Navi Abadi village in Kapurthala.

The road to the venue, around 20kms from the city, came abuzz as scores of representatives headed to take oath of office for the grassroots democracy.

Winning polls unopposed from Kala Tibba village in Ferozepur, 45-year-old Gurjeet Kaur heads a panchayat that has more women than men.

Besides her, three of the panches are women. “It is good to see that women are getting the representation they deserve. Given a chance, we can pull off a job as fine as men,” she says.

39-year-old Jasbir Kaur, who has been elected from Bagrian village in Fatehgarh Sahib, is the first from the family to dabble with politics. Her team consists two women panches. “The problems faced by women will be on my agenda in my tenure as village head,” she said.

Coming from Narinderpur village in Mansa, 33-year-old Sarabjeet Kaur won with a vote share of over 75%. She is supported by three women panches.

“I will ensure that all pending developmental works in my village are completed on my watch,” she says.

The panchayat elections were held on October 15.

The CM said the oath-taking ceremony of other sarpanches from remaining four districts, Muktsar Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Barnala and Gurdaspur, and of the 81,808 panches from 23 districts will be held after the by-elections of four Vidhan Sabha constituencies, Gidderbaha, Chabbewal, Barnala and Dera Baba Nanak.