With an eye on ensuing Assembly elections, Shiv Sena woos women voters with Pratham Ti Mahila Sammelan on women centric issues

Mumbai: With an eye on the ensuing Assembly elections, the Shiv Sena in a bid to woo the sizeable women voters in the state has announced “Pratham Ti” (She First) a three-day Mahila Sammelan beginning from September 9 in 25 district’s, in the first phase. In a statement issued here on Sunday, the Shiv Sena stated that the move is directed towards keeping women first, empowering them and addressing their concerns. The initiative in its first phase between September 9 to September 11 will be launched from Parbhani district. For this purpose the party has chosen 20 women leaders who will interact with five lakh women spread across 25 district’s of the state.

The initiative will focus on 5 ’S’ and has worked upon these issues over the years. These are – Shikshan (Education), Suraksha (Self Defense), Samata (Equality), Swasthya (Health) and Swavalamban (Self Dependence). Through this initiative the Sena will focus on women-centric issues and argues is based on the vision of late Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray who always stood for womens rights. The statement also adds that Yuva Sena president Aditya Thackeray has also been focusing on these issues and has taken several initiatives in this regards.

The party has selected 20 of its womens wing leaders and sub-divided them into groups of four each. Prominent amongst the women leaders chosen to head these groups include – Kishori Pednekar, Mumbai Mahila Vibhag Sanghatak, Shubha Raul, ex-Mumbai Mayor, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Shiv Sena Deputy Leader, Jyoti Thakre, president Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM) and Sheetal Mhatre, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Law Committee chairperson amongst others.

In the first phase, these women leaders will hold meetings in Parbhani, Nanded, Solapur, Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) and Dharashiv (Osmanabad) between September 9 to September 11. The Sena women leaders are expected to meet and interact with five lakh women in 25 district’s of Maharashtra by the end of September.

As per the Election Commission of India (ECI) data of eligible voters (as on March 8, 2019) for the May 2019 Lok Sabha elections there were 4,16,25,819 crore women voters in the state. Out of the total 8,73,30,484 crore voters, 4,57,02,579 crore were male voters, 4,16,25,819 crore female voters and 2,086 transgender voters. There are 95,473 polling stations in the state.