Politics is becoming an “exclusive game” of the rich and those with average means are being elbowed out. The rhetoric on women empowerment notwithstanding, only 56 women of a total of 1,055 candidates contested the 2007 assembly poll. This means that just 5 per cent women were given representation by the parties as compared to 8 per cent in the 2002 elections, says a report jointly prepared by the Punjab Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms.
The data presented by the two organsiations indicates that the election process has virtually been reduced to a “money game” with the assets of candidates of all major parties like the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and the BJP running into crores.
