For Voters, Women Safety Was One Of The Most Important Issues This Elections, But Do Politicians Really Care?

The Lok Sabha Elections, which began on April 11 is on its last phase now. With the voting to 59 seats across West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar in the seventh phase, the elections will come to an end on May 19. This Lok Sabha Election saw back and forth fights unlike anything in the past. The key issues ranged from national security to political legacies.?

If you ask voters, their priorities are way different from that of the political parties. One of the early surveys had found that among a number of issues in this election, female voters are most concerned about crimes against women.?

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A Facebook poll by Indiatimes had also reflected the same with 87 per cent of the 7,400 participants saying that women safety is one of the most important issues in the Lok Sabha election.?

But other than the usual claims in their election manifestos and occasional references in speeches do politicians parties really care about women safety??

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections will undoubtedly go down in the history as one of the crassest - with women candidates, cutting across party lines targeted with the most shameful and disgusting comments and remarks. According to Swati Maliwal, the Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), until there is a change in the patriarchal mindset, we will see politicians making such crass and misogynist comments on women politicians. She also added that such incidents discourage women from entering politics.

"It is unfortunate that women do not occupy political space, whether you look at the parliament or assemblies, and when they try there is a lot of trolling and naming and shaming. Till women occupy political space women issues will remain unsolved," Maliwal said.

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She also felt that only if their political presence increase women will feel safe to go out.?

"For thirteen days, we travelled across Delhi and interacted with women voters to understand what their issues are. I was amazed to see that the real issues of women are not political issues at all. One thing each and every woman we interacted with raised was how unsafe they are, when they are out on the streets and when they are inside their houses," she said.

Maliwal said that despite the alarming number of cases reported in the national capital, the conviction rate is very low.?

"I think people are just not scared. They think that they can do anything to any woman or girl and get away with it. When we asked the Delhi Police, they informed us that between 2012-14, 31,446 crimes against women were reported in Delhi,? and less than 150 were convicted," she said.

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She also felt that even in the cases were convictions happened the system has failed to deliver justice.

"Recently, I met the mother of Nirbhaya. She said something that will haunt me forever. She said sometimes she feels happy that her daughter died. At least she doesn't have to go through the scary and humiliating process to get justice. It has been six years, the SC has rejected the review petition of the convicts. But till now the death penalty has not happened."

#ITCounts is an Indiatimes initiative to move beyond the noise and the name-calling and focus on issues that really matter to our generation. We aim to be more about migration, pollution, LGBTQ rights, women's issues and healthcare than about Pakistan, political posturing and trolling.?

If you have any suggestions/inputs/feedback or advice please hit us up at kabeer.sharma@timesinternet.in