Punjab LG polls phase 2: Only 0.6% of candidates women, non-Muslims

Some 27,542 candidates will contest the elections in 12 districts

ISLAMABAD:

Only 59 women and 111 non-Muslims are among the 27,542 candidates contesting local government elections in 12 districts of Punjab in the second phase of the exercise. This shows the pathetic state of participation of women and minorities in the political process even at the grass roots level.

Interestingly, most the districts going for polls in the second phase on November 19, are in central and northern Punjab, deemed relatively developed compared to southern Punjab. The districts going for elections in the second phase are Sargodha, Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Attock, Jhelum, Mianwali, Chiniot, Toba Tekh Sindh, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Sheikhupura and Khanewal.



Though some women and non-Muslim will be elected in the indirect polls once the three phases of direct elections, the meager participation of marginalised segments of society in the actual electoral process raises serious questions.

The Punjab local government act was amended earlier this year through an ordinance limiting direct elections only for two categories; chairman and vice chairman. The seats for women, minorities, peasants/workers have been kept for indirect elections. The councilors elected in the direct elections will choose members on these seats.

However, like the elections for national and provincial assemblies, there is no bar on these segments to take part in the direct elections exercise for LG polls. Very few participate and hardly any get elected.

A total of 14.67 million voters – 8,278,087 male and 6,401,225 female – will exercise their right of franchise in the second phase of the elections in Punjab. The electorates will elect chairmen and vice chairmen, and general members of union councils for district councils which will be set up in main urban areas. Semi-urban areas will have municipal corporations while the rural areas would have municipal committees.

Interestingly, only 12 women are among the thousands of candidates running for the offices of chairman and vice chairman in district councils (to be set up in the big cities) and municipal corporations (to be set up in smaller towns). Eight of these are contesting for office of chairman and only four for the office of vice chairman. In the general councilor category, among the more than 20,000 candidates only 47 are women.

The situation is even pathetic when it comes to participation of non-Muslim men and women. Though election authorities did not provide any segregated data of non-Muslim men and women participating in the polls, their total number is 111 and almost all are believed to be men.

Only six non-Muslims are in the run for the offices of chairman while nine are running for the vice chairman’s slot. The remaining non-Muslim candidates are contesting for general councilors’ slots.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2015.