Women Leaders in Village Panchayats

I won my first Presidential seat in 1993, which I contested from the general

Category. In my second term as President in 2003, I contested and won

from the SC category. My constituency has five villages. The villagers first

approached me to stand for elections because I had a reputation of being a

quiet person, who never fought or indulged in gossip. I think they felt that I

could be easily influenced and would not be an overly interfering President.

I proved quite contrary to these expectations. Moreover, having seen and

acknowledged the good I have done, there was absolutely no opposition from

the people the second time. However, some Panchayat members continue to

be impediments.

I was encouraged by my family to stand for elections. As far as the campaigning

went it was mostly done by the villagers as I come from an extremely poor

family, with no money to contribute to the campaign. I could not even offer

coffee to the people who were supporting me. The campaign was vigorous and

though my area is Ward No. 1, the villagers even got people from Ward No. 2

to vote for me. Before I entered politics, my ambit of experience was limited

to the family, the home and daily coolie (labour) work.

The process by which I garnered the confidence of the people began before I was

elected. As I felt I could not help financially with the campaign, I would try to

be with the campaigners most of the time and see if I could help them in their

homes with household duties. Thus, for example, while in their homes, I would

sit with the women of the house and help them in cleaning rice: this helped in

building a relationship of camaraderie and trust. Through these experiences, the

women began to feel that they could relate to and share their thoughts and ideas

better with a woman elected representative. Importantly, they felt convinced

that the power that comes from being a President would not go to my head and

that I would continue to be sensitive to their specific problems.

Matters like filing of my nomination etc., were taken care of by the villagers

who had taken it upon themselves to get me elected. It was once I became

President that the problems began. Other members of the Panchayat, namely

the men, refused to attend meetings that I called, as I was a woman and an

Kenchamma
President
Panchayat: Nerelekere
Block: Tarikere
District: Chickmagalur