Mumbai polls: Congress, NCP wary of Sena nari shakti

The Shiv Sena has placed its faith in "nari shakti" by allocating 60% of seats to its women candidates, giving jitters to its rivals in the Congress, NCP and MNS who admit that finding the right candidates was in itself a herculean task.

Although the NCP also fielded 60% women candidates of the total 58 seats, it allowed relatives of established male leaders to get priority.

In the BJP, party leaders had to scout for suitable women candidates at the eleventh hour to meet the norms laid down for the quota. The Sena in contesting 135 seats, has fielded 79 women candidates which accounts for 60%. The decision to generously increase additional quota by 10% for women candidates was based on their electoral merit.

Interestingly, the Sena also happens to be the only party which has taken the decision to field women candidates in the open category instead of confining them to reserved seats which would not have exceeded 50% quota. Its alliance partner, the BJP, which is contesting 63 seats, have abided by the stated norms by fielding 32 women candidates. The MNS, which is contesting the highest 223 seats have fielded women contesting 50% of these seats.

The Congress which is contesting 169 seats could not exceed its women quota beyond 50% as there was tremendous pressure amongst male candidates vying to contest in the elections.

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Manikrao Thakre said, "Sensing that we are ready to give a tough fight to the Sena-BJP, the number of candidates aspiring for the BMC elections had increased threefold."

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who strongly advocated the concept of 50% reservation in local bodies elections, has displayed his support with 60% women power in the BMC contest. His daughter Surpriya Sule (MP) and state NCP chief Vidhya Chavan trained the women candidates in electoral politics. A NCP general secretary said, "Women candidates with a political background surely stand a better chance compared to the newly initiated in a city where the NCP has a limited stronghold."