Haryana strongman Om Prakash Chautala was not doing mere lip-service when he announced a 33 per cent reservation for women candidates in his party — the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). He has since picked up a woman candidate, ignoring claims of three sons, of a dead INLD legislator to contest an Assembly seat.Sources said Chautala had given the ticket to Swatantra Choudhary, a higher secondary school teacher and the eldest of the three daughters-in-law of Leela Krishan, former legislator whose death had necessitated the by-elections from Fatehabad due on May 21. His choice has left three ‘‘eligible’’ sons of the dead politician, who were clamouring to succeed their father, out in the cold. Swatantra, named so for she was born on the Independence Day, has thus become the INLD’s official nominee for the Fatehabad elections. The seat is considered an INLD stronghold so Swatantra seems headed for an easy win.Interestingly, as INLD sources put it, two of the three sons of Leela Krishan are into politics and are INLD members. Swantantra’s husband, a banker, too was interested in getting the ticket. ‘‘The criterion for picking up Swantantra was her education and the fact that she belongs to Fatehabad and was married in the same area,’’ a Chautala aide told The Indian Express.Politically, the INLD hopes to woo women voters in the next elections when the party would be faced with an anti-incumbency factor. ‘‘The CM is taking it very seriously,’’ aides said.
