First time women politicos

(Left to right) Poonam Mahajan Rao, Pankaja Munde Palve


By Rinky Kumar, Team iDiva


The assembly elections are just around the corner. Politicians are making last minute rounds of their respective constituencies to woo voters. And of course making empty promises and more...

We decided to not harp about that and instead profile five women politicos who are contesting the assembly elections for the first time.

Biker chick
Name: Shakuntala Khatak
Age: 41
Claim to fame: Close to Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s family

Profession: Nurse

Promises to: Work for the schedule castes

Contesting from: Kalanaur, Haryana

Politicians are often seen travelling along with their entourage during campaign trails. But here’s a woman with a difference. Shakuntala Khatak, who has been allotted a Congress ticket, likes to woo her voters in style on a bike. Apparently, the former nurse does not want to change her image of being a 'commoner' in the electoral fray for the October 13 polls. At most places where she campaigns and addresses rallies, Khatak prefers to ride her black Hero Honda Passion motorbike.

Will she ride into the sunset with a victory? Let's wait and watch.

Cause goddess

Name: Praniti Shinde

Age: 28

Claim to fame: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s daughter

Profession: Social worker

Promises to: Issue Below Poverty Line cards to all beedi workers

Contesting from: Solapur city, Maharashtra

A graduate in politics and economics, Praniti founded Jai-Jui, an NGO that works with women and youth in Solapur, her father’s constituency. She claims her NGO has set up over 1,000 self-help groups and 50 small-scale industries for women. She’s contesting in the Solapur City Central constituency on a Congress ticket. Once she is elected, like all politicians she too promises to work for the upliftment of handloom, powerloom and beedi factory workers.

The culmination of the polls will only tell if her cause helps her rise above the rabble.

Like father, like daughter

Name: Poonam Mahajan Rao

Age: 28

Claim to fame: Prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Late Pramod Mahajan’s daughter

Profession: Political worker

Promises to: Create jobs for the poor

Contesting from: Ghatkopar, Mumbai

After the demise of Pramod Mahajan, speculations were rife that his son Rahul will make his debut in politics. But Mahajan jr is busy trying to find a girl for himself on television. His low-profile sister Poonam Mahajan has decided to take ahead the family legacy. A trained pilot, Poonam joined the BJP in 2006. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, she made efforts to register new and young voters in south Mumbai and expected to get the LS ticket from that area. However, due to internal differences within the party and with Shiv sena she was denied a ticket.

Now that she has got a ticket, let’s see if she will really work for her constituency.

Programming success

Name: Pankaja Munde Palve

Age: 30

Claim to fame: Gopinath Munde, BJP national general secretary’s daughter

Profession: Political worker

Promises to: Build a five-star industrial development zone at Parli, Maharashtra

Contesting from: Parli, Maharashtra

Pankaja is not new to politics. The Science graduate has been her father’s campaign manager during the Lok Sabha polls. An MBA, Pankaja wrote computer programmes for her father’s sugar factory and ran a small software company in Pune. She has an advantage over her rivals, or so we are made to believe, since she is the first woman to stand from this constituency. She promises to work for the empowerment of the rural women.

Hmmm, now where have we heard that before? Tell us something new!

The 'Z' factor

Name: Karya Bagang

Age: Early 30s

Claim to fame: First generation Zilla Parishad Member

Profession: Politician

Promises to: Provide employment to the poor

Contesting from: 9-Chayang-Tajo, Arunachal Pradesh

A first generation Zilla Parishad Member, Karya turned a rebel and left the Indian National Congress and joined the All India Trinamool Congress after she was denied a nomination. Like all politicians, even she claims that she is quite famous in her constituency and might wins hands down. That's a tough call, especially since she has been pitted against one of the senior-most legislators of the state, Kameng Dolo.