Adivasi Women Claim Power In Local Elections
Badami Bai (32), had a problem on her hands, just a week before the Panchayat (India’s directly elected village councils) elections in India’s western state of Rajasthan in January 2020. The Bhil Adivasi contestant for the office of the Sarpanch (village council head) of Bhagoron ka Khera panchayat in Banswara district suddenly found two new contestants running for office against her.“This was deliberately done by former Sarpanch Kamla Devi’s husband Chetanpuri, to undercut my vote share. He paid them Rs. 50,000 each to contest”, alleged a dejected Badami Bai.Badami Bai is no ordinary woman. As a member of Ujala Samooh–