More women voters this time in Ludhiana, want govt to make safety top priority

Safety tops the wish list of female voters whose presence in the electoral roll has seen a considerable surge of 1, 31, 879 voters from the previous Vidhan Sabha polls. Women from both urban and rural areas of the district want that top priority of the new government to be formed on March 11, should be to ensure safety of women.

They strongly view that no government can ensure welfare of women till it takes safety of women seriously and pointed out that years keep passing by, governments keep coming and going, but the plight of women remains the same and she continues to face threat to her freedom of movement, dignity and life.

“It’s 2017 but I still can’t think of going out alone on street after sun set and neither my family will ever allow, especially if I have to walk the distance. Rising crimes against women such as rape is the core reason and it is reported after every few days in different dailies and news channels. I feel police in the city needs to be more vigilant and government must form as severe rules as possible for those who commit any crimes against women”, said a housewife Gurvinder Kaur from BRS Nagar.

Sharda Sharma, chairperson of Ragini Ladies Club underlined that recently the club members also discussed the same concern in one of their recent meetings and wish the new government to come up with innovative ways to curb all kind of crimes in the city.

“You see lot of police everywhere when any VVIP’ such as ministers have to visit the city. Why can’t the same police be deployed on regular basis especially on secluded roads and points in the city? This can surely go a long way to discourage not only crimes against women but even any other kind of crimes such as snatching incidents”, said Sharma.

Similarly, Rajni Bector, chairperson of Lakshmi Ladies Club and a leading entrepreneur said, “There is also a need to make the public transport safe be it trains, buses or three wheelers. Responsibilities of someone from the administration must be strictly fixed and if there are any loopholes, the concerned official should be held accountable.”

A group of women hailing from different villages who were present at Suwidha centre on Tuesday said there are also crimes against women that are no reported due to family reputation.

Crime graph

According to data from district police, approximately a total of 290 cases of rape have been registered in the last three years and when it comes to kidnapping cases, out of total of 498 cases, majority of them are women of different age groups.

Rise in women voters

Throwing light on women voters, in 2012 Vidhan Sabha polls, there were a total of 9, 94,961 voters and according to the latest data, the number has reached to 11, 26,840 voters. Interestingly, Gill constituency tops in both 2012 and 2016 for contributing maximum female voters with figure of 10, 3,647 and 11, 0892 respectively. On the flip side, in 2012, Ludhiana contributed the least with only 72,114 female voters and Raikot in 2016 with 78,775 voters only.