Five women to battle it out for Lucknow mayor post

Lucknow: They are in politics but they are not politicians and neither are they familiar with the intrigues of politics. Yet, they have plunged headlong into the vortex of politics and are trying to survive.

The five women mayoral candidates — a lawyer, two businesswoman and two homemakers — in Lucknow are not political veterans and their presence in the electoral battle reflects on the dearth of women candidates in almost all political parties.

When the Samajwadi Party announced the name of Meera Talwar Vardhan for the mayor’s post in Lucknow, even the party leaders were surprised.

Meera, a businesswoman, had never been seen in the SP office and no one knew when she enrolled as a member of the party. Her sole claim to fame was that she is married to the grandson of socialist leader Acharya Narendra Dev.

“She is not even aware of the ground realities and speaks on what she is told to by the party leaders. Since she does not enjoy ground support, we are finding it difficult to muster support for her,” says a party leader.

Meera, however, insists that she has been “deeply involved with social work” and needs no introduction in her own home (Lucknow).

Bulbul Godiyal, the BSP candidate, is a lawyer and was the first woman additional advocate general of the state in the Akhilesh Yadav regime.

She is banking heavily on support from the lawyer community, dalits and, of course, the over one lakh Bengali population in the state capital.

Prema Awasthi, the Congress candidate, is the wife of late Puttu Awasthi, a well known leader in political circles, and has been active in managing the family’s  schools and social organisations after her husband’s demise in 2012. She is familiar with the nitty-gritty of politics and also has a band of loyal followers.

The BJP candidate, Sanyukta Bhatia, 70, is the wife of former MLA, late Satish Bhatia. She has the strong backing of the RSS and her son Prashant Bhatia is a lawyer as well as a trader leader.

AAP candidate Priyanka Maheshwari is also a businesswoman. She is the youngest of all candidates.