93-year-old elected as sarpanch in Pune village

Gangubai Bhambure beat her rival (31) by 353 votes in Khed taluka.

Most women aged in their nineties would be happy to sit at home and spend time with grandchildren, but not Gangubai Bhambure. Instead, the 93-year-old woman will be heading the affairs of the gram panchayat in her village in Pune.

Ms Bhambure has created history by becoming perhaps the oldest sarpanch in the country after she was elected unopposed in Dhore Bhamburwadi gram panchayat in Khed taluka of Pune district. As she was the only candidate who filed her nomination, all nine members of the Bhamburwadi gram panchayat body supported her unanimously. The post of sarpanch was reserved for women.

Bhamburwadi is a village with a population of 2,000. The gram panchyat consists of three villages — Jarewadi, Dhorewadi and Bhamburwadi — with three members from each village as its members.

After she was elected as the sarpanch, the villagers took out a procession in Ms Bhambure’s honour. In October last year, she was elected as a member of the gram panchayat after she defeated her 31-year-old rival, Sunita Bhambure, who is nearly four generations younger to her. The nonagenarian had polled 863 votes, whereas her rival received 510 votes.

The fact that Ms Bhambure is illiterate has not deterred people from electing her. Born on December 22, 1924, she is still going strong in her nineties, with her eyesight intact and physique sturdy enough to conduct rounds of the village every day.

“Even though she is uneducated, she has intelligence and a good memory. She also has close relations with all the residents of the village. That’s why people elected her unopposed as the sarpanch,” said her grandson, Bharat Bhambure.

On her part, the new sarpanch said, “I took up the challenge only after villagers urged me to become a sarpanch. I will carry out development works by taking along residents of all three villages. The priority would be to solve drinking water and sewage problems and improve the condition of roads.”