All-woman party has quota for men

An all-woman party, called the Bharatiya Awam Party, has been formed in Varanasi to usher in change in the male-dominated political system.
Najma Parveen, president of the party, says that since the party was registered in January this year, it will not contest the Lok Sabha elections.
“We will start preparing for the Assembly polls that are due in 2017 because we do not want to make a mockery of ourselves by going into elections without doing our homework,” she said.
The all-woman party, however, promises 10 per cent reservation for men.
“Since the idea took shape, we have managed to enrol over 35,000 women as our members. We are working for women’s empowerment in all fields, including politics. Among the women, we are encouraging those belonging to weaker sections and minorities because they are more deprived than other women,” she added.
Ms Parveen explained that the voting choices of most Indian women were dominated by the men in the house and women were not expected to have their individual choices.
“Our effort is to make women politically aware, inform them about the political ideologies of various parties and help them make their own choices,” said Ms Nazneen Ansari, the party’s general secretary, adding that their initiative has been getting an overwhelming response from women.
“We have received over 50,000 receipts of primary membership. But so far about 35,000 women have been granted membership after verification,” she stated.
The membership process of the Bharatiya Awam Party is rigorous and membership is granted only after strict verification of the aspirant’s voter identity card.
Each member is provided with a registration number and a data bank with details such as address, Assembly constituency, parliamentary constituency and voter identification number of the member is prepared so that there is no duplication of membership.