BJP's North-West Delhi candidate Meera Kanwaria concedes that women's issues are neglected "basically by force of habit''. She quickly goes on to add that whatever issues candidates are raising from price rise ("it is the woman's kitchen which is the worst-hit because of prices of daily food items'') to law and order ("women's safety is a concern for all'') are actually related to women.
Most candidates say that it is not as if women's issues are neglected but they are usually reserved for women's meetings where issues like health, education and empowerment are discussed. There is usually little effort to bring these issues onto the candidates overall agenda a fact that candidates deny but poll strategists of parties across the spectrum concede off the record.
They point out that unlike caste or religious groups, women have hardly evolved as a votebank by themselves and usually go along with the choice of their families read husbands. Thus for political parties it is often not worth the effort beyond getting them to the polling booths. "Once they are there it is all about how well you have addressed yourself to the men in the family. Which is why there is often the appeal to women that housework can wait, cast your vote,'' said a Congress source.
Though Congress's sole woman candidate Krishna Tirath was not available for comment despite repeated efforts, her party colleague Ajay Maken cites the fact that "three out of 10s MLA in my LS constituency are women'' to drive home the point that "Congress is actively working towards the empowerment of women''. He adds: "I am just coming back from a meeting which was addressed by the CM herself and where the audience was all women where several women's issues were discussed.'' He also points out that if women's issues are discussed in women's meetings it does not signify that they are not a priority. "Dalits' issues are discussed in Dalit meetings, that is the practice,'' Maken says.