As 50% of the seats in local bodies have been reserved for women candidates, parties have managed to find some graduate women and women qualified to become professionals to contest the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections. However, the overall percentage of women professionals willing to become candidates is low.
About 10% of the women candidates are graduates, while the rest have completed either primary or higher secondary education.
The NCP has a contingent of 76 women, of which five to six are qualified to become professionals like teachers, engineer, lawyers and interior designers. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader, Deepa Sanas said their candidates include 20% women professionals. "We have software engineers, doctors and teachers. Most of the women are from the middle class.
Professional qualifications can be useful if they are elected. Because of exposure they have a good understanding about civic issues," she said, adding that women professionals were more confident.
The Bharatiya Janata Party list of women candidates comprises four to five qualified professionals. These include an entrepreneur, business professionals and teachers.
Congress corporator, Aba Bagul said there were chartered accountants, lawyers and doctors among their women candidates. But he admitted that the educated class was reluctant to enter politics. "It's hard to convince them to take up candidature. Therefore, we could not get many professionally qualified women on our list," he added.
But the picture is changing. The reluctance of educated people to contest elections has decreased compared to the 2007 civic polls. However, the number of such enthusiasts is still low, said office-bearers of political parties.
Pune Nagarik Sanghatana (PNS) has fielded five women among their 15 candidates. These include Sana Patil, who has completed her business management course from the USA, said founder of PNS, Vivek Velankar.
