Local polls: Among those elected, wives, sisters, sons, daughters of party workers

Kapilaben Dabhi, 57, is the wife of Tulsi Dabhi, former Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) chairman and corporator from Gandhigram ward. Kapilaben, who was elected from Paldi ward (Gandhigram ward does not exist after delimitation), says, “It is because of the widespread social work in the area and the wide network of women volunteers that got noticed by the party leadership.” A housewife, she says, “My husband’s position in the party has not much to do with my election.”

Ami Ravat, 41, who won from Ward Number 1 of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), is the wife of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Narendra Ravat. She is also the president of the women’s wing of the Congress in Vadodara. From Ward Number 2, BJP MP Ranjan Bhatt’s sister, Panna Desai, won in her first electoral contest.

Forty-four-year-old Shital Daga, winner from Maninagar ward, has studied up to second year in college and is the mother of three. A Patidar from Dahegam. her husband, Anandkumar Daga, is a BJP worker for 30 years and a close associate of Dharmendra Shah, former chairman of Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). Sources reveal Anandkumar wanted to contest himself, but his wife got the ticket. He denies her being a Patidar earned her the preference.

The Gujarat government amended the Gujarat Local Authorities Act to introduce 50 per cent reservation for women, opening up posts for them across all tiers of local government.

Ahmedabad City BJP president Rakesh Shah, who is also a member of the BJP parliamentary board, said that the nominating decision was taken by the entire parliamentary board. “Is being relative of some or other leader bad for a candidate?” he wondered.
Azra Jabeen Kadri, the winner from Jamalpur Ward (Number 37), is the daughter of former corporator Imtiyaz Kadri (1987-1994). The newly elected corporator is a second year Arts student of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). She says, “Since my father himself has been a corporator, I do not have to look outside for inspiration. He and my uncle, Rafiq Kadri, have been instrumental in moulding my career and ensuring a party ticket for me.”

She wants to follow in the footsteps of late Ahmedabad mayor Aneesa Mirza and work for slum-dwellers, women, the poor and the needy.
“You see the difference in development of eastern and western riverbank on the riverfront. There is no development of facilities on the eastern side except for roads from Jamalpur bridge to stretches beyond Nehru bridge… this inequality has got to be removed,” she says.
The Ahmedabad City Congress president Chetan Raval, a member of the party parliamentary board, said, “We had asked the ward committees concerned to suggest any one-name panel for each seat. If even then ward committee came up with more than one name for a seat, then we would take a call and finalise the name,” he says. “There was no question of any nepotism,” he says.
One of the 35 independent candidates who have won in the Unjha Municipality elections is Kirit Patel, the nephew of veteran BJP man and five-time MLA from Unjha assembly constituency, Narayan Patel.

Facing the brunt of Patidar agitation, the BJP did not field a single candidate on its symbol in Unjha municipality polls. Narayan Patel claimed that 19 of the 30 independents that BJP fielded won, one of which is Kirit from Ward Number 1.
Asked if Kirit owed his victory to his uncle’s influence, the Unjha MLA says, “As a leader of the party, I help all our candidates and I did help him also. But he has won on his own merit. You can gauge his merit by the fact that he contested and won from Ward Number 1 in which Rupalaji (Purushottam Rupala – national vice-president of the BJP) had to vacate a public function after Patidar women barged into the venue, clanking rolling pins and steel plates.”
The wives of two Congress leaders of Saurashtra also launched their political careers in the recently concluded local body elections.
Alpana Khatariya (35), wife of Congress leader Arjun Khatariya, contested from Kotda-Sangani seat of Rajkot district panchayat as a Congress candidate and won.

Kotda-Sangani was the constituency of Arjun, the leader of opposition in the outgoing board of district panchayat. However, he had to change his seat as Kotda-Sangani was reserved for women. Congress then fielded Arjun’s wife Alpana, who has studied till Class X and is a homemaker.

Arjun says he never demanded ticket for his wife. “But given my success in raising issues of farmers of my area, there was popular demand that some of us contest poll from Kotda-Sangani. Party leaders suggested my wife’s name. She agreed and got the ticket,” says Khatariya, a native of Ramod village in Kotda-Sangani taluka.

Arjun’s father, Ghanshyam, is a senior co-operative leader and is presently the director of Rajkot District Cooperative Bank.
Similarly, Prafullaba Jadeja (42), wife of Jamnagar North Congress MLA Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, made her debut in politics by contesting as a Congress nominee for the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) elections. She won from JMC Ward Number 11, constituted by Gulabnagar area, which has traditionally been a BJP bastion. However, the area is part of the Assembly constituency of her husband. A homemaker, Prafullaba has studied till Class XII.
In Vadodara District Panchayat elections, women candidates from the Congress and the BJP were given tickets in place of their husbands.
For instance, Opposition Leader of the District Panchayat in the previous term from Congress, Dilip Bhatt, vacated his seat from Dashrath due to the women’s reservation. His wife, Panna, contested instead, and won. In Chokari, the winner is Congress candidate Kailash Natwarsinh Padhiyar whose husband Natwarsinh was the member of the District Panchayat during the 2010-2015 term. In Jharod, Congress winner Maya Joshi is the wife of active party leader Niranjan Joshi.

From the BJP, women winners include Ramila Patel and Reena Patel — both wives of influential party leaders. Ramila’s husband, Kamlesh, was the Standing Committee chairman of the District Panchayat during 2010-2015.
Reena’s husband, Ashok, is the vice-president of the district unit of the party.