Election campaign in national capital: Candidate promises to boost the participation of women in politics

New Delhi, May 4: Poll campaigning for the remaining three phases of elections has moved forward. All party leaders have polished their skills to woo voters. Local issues, promises for women, work for children are few points covered by these candidates. BJP candidate from New Delhi constituency Meenakshi Lekhi had a public meeting and election rally today. "To boost the participation of women in politics, we need an accepting society. Financial background and family support also play a major role," she said.

The BJP candidate from the high-profile New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency also said all parties need to put in extra efforts to boost the participation of the fairer sex in public life at every level. Only 18 of the 164 candidates in the fray in Delhi are women, according to data from Delhi's chief electoral office.

“More women should join politics. They should be interested in politics. Giving women ticket for the sake of it is not the right thing to do," Lekhi told media in an interview, citing the example of the Trinamool Congress. She said, only actresses with a TMC ticket do not represent all women in politics, and that the Mamata Banerjee-led party fielding popular faces of the Bengali film industry cannot be called women empowerment.

"People from any profession can join politics. But, giving someone a ticket just because she's an actress and has some amount of popularity quotient? I don't know," she said. "All the problems Delhi is plagued with are related to urban development. The Congress and Maken, a former urban development minister, are responsible for the mess. He should tell what did they do in 10 years -- from 2004 to 2014," she said.

Asked if the issue of air pollution figures in her poll campaign, she said, "Yes, but my problem is that I can't replace the Delhi government. The pollution control committee falls under the Delhi government."

The Delhi government has not even studied the reasons for pollution in the city. The air quality is depleting not because of vehicles, but because of dust from construction and demolition waste lying untreated, she said.

She also claimed credit for the renovation works at the three major railway stations in the constituency -- New Delhi, Delhi Cantt, and Sarai Rohilla.

"Normally, officers used to travel abroad. When I sat in the chair, I sent the gardeners, class 3 and class 4 employees to European countries like Holland and Spain for training," she said.

The AAP spent a huge amount of money on the publicity of an application meant for treating C&D waste but nothing happened, she alleged.