Where voting is a taboo for women

SEHRUA (LAKHIMPUR KHERI): India may have a woman occupying the highest office of president and Uttar Pradesh being governed by a woman chief minister - both being symbols of women empowerment. But, life for women in this tiny village of Lakhimpur Kheri is still confined to `chauka chuhla' within the four walls of their houses. Neither are they seen in the fields helping their husbands nor fetching water.They can't visit any market or fair.
And that's not all. Even after 62 years of Independence, women in this village are not allowed to cast vote since it will violate the `purdah' -- the age old tradition symbolising family honour and prestige.
About 30 kilometres from the district headquarters, Sehrua has a population of around 2,500, with 1800 voters. Of these, 80% are Pathans and remaining Dalits. Pathans settled here during the Mughal period. Dalits too have been living here since long. The two communities, despite their different religious backgrounds, share common customs and bondage. They celebrate festivals together and settle their disputes through consensus. And thus, after Independence when they had to choose between the voting right and their customs, they chose the latter.
The consensus `includes' that a girl after attaining puberty has to be under purdah. Further, any girl marrying into this village has to give up her voting right even if she had been exercising it before marriage. Similarly, a Sehrua girl does not vote till the time of her marriage. However, she can start exercising her franchise, if her in-laws allow her to do so. On Wednesday, when Lakhimpur Kheri went to polls in the final phase of Lok Sabha elections, the village women kept the custom of `no-voting' intact.
"Azadi ke baad gaon kyair bujurgon nai yeh tai keeno ki mehruon ko vote dare kyair zarurat nai hai (After Independence, village elders decided that women need not to vote)," recalled 70-year-old Chunnan Khan. "The reason behind barring women from voting is not only purdah but also to protect them from danger, in case there is a dispute or fight at the polling booth," former gram pradhan of village Wasil Khan tried to explain. Women rarely step out of their houses. Even for cosmetic items, they prefer sending the purchase list through boys in the family.
A problem occurred in 1995. The post of the gram pradhan was reserved for a woman in panchayat elections. The elderly sat again and after a long debate came out with a solution -- "The two groups in the village will field a woman each. Only the two women candidates will vote. Rest will be managed by men." Thus, Wasil's 65-year-old mother Mehrunnisa became the first woman to vote in Sehrua and occupy the coveted post. But, the show during the five-year-term was ran by her son till he was formally elected in 2000.
However, the record of `no woman voting' was almost broken this year. Following efforts by some social activists, some Muslim ulemas visited the village recently and tried to convince people that Islam does not bar women from voting and that doing so does not violate purdah. Some villagers were convinced and even made up their minds to allow `gharwalis' to vote this time. But then on the night of May 12 (Tuesday), the entire village decided to boycott polls in support of their long pending demand of bringing Sehrua under Gola tehsil jurisdiction.
"We know that this orthodoxy of not allowing women to vote is due to jihalat (illiteracy) among our folks but things are changing now. We are ready to negotiate. In fact, all men and women in the village will vote from next time if the district administration accepts our demands," said Kaiser Almi, a local political activist, who is trying to mobilise opinion in favour of women. "Voting is the right given by the Constitution to every citizen and boycotting polls amounts to `killing' ourselves, but we have been forced to do so," he said.
Both Muslims and Dalits in the village agreed that boycotting elections was wrong but said they had no other choice. "For last 10 years, we have been running from pillar to post, from tehsildar to district magistrate (DM) and from MLA to MP -- we have made representations to all but to no avail," rued Wasil. Even on Wednesday morning, district magistrate Senthil Pandian C came to dissuade villagers from boycotting polls. "But, he only gave assurance which we have been getting for the past one decade, now we want concrete work," said gram pradhan Shiv Gautam.
Earlier, the village came under Kumbhi block in Mohammdi tehsil and assembly constituency was Hyderabad. After delimitation, the village has now been shifted to Kasta assembly segment. But people want village to be brought under Gola tehsil. "At present, block office and tehsil headquarters are situated 50 kilometres apart. We have to run from one place to another for getting ration cards, widow and disable pension papers etc. Now the proposal is to shift Sehrua to Mitauli tehsil, which will make things even worse," said Almi.