In an age of influence and capitalization to gain power, Gaya has stood out of the crowd making an astounding choice of a woman for its administration.
The city has etched its name in revolutionizing history by electing a woman named Chinta Devi, who has worked as a sweeper for the past 40 years, as its deputy mayor.
This comes in a series of phenomenal victories by women in the recent city council elections in Bihar. They bagged 16 of the 17 mayoral seats and 11 of the 11 deputy mayoral seats.
Chinta Devi won the mayoral election in her recent local elections with an impressive margin of 16,000 votes. She had to overcome many of her potential oppositions to earn this feat.
Why Chinta Devi Is The Rightful Deputy Mayor
She makes a great choice for several reasons.
Widowed for two years, the 60-year-old worked as a floor sweeper at Gaya City Hall. To meet her ends, she even tried to sell vegetables. The Municipal Corporation has employed all three of her sons in the hygiene department.
At first, when Chinta Devi was approached to submit her nomination, she kind of hesitated. However, after a lot of requests, including that from the Sweeper Union, they persuaded her to vote as well as send in her name as a candidate and fight for what she believed in.
Her dedication to her job as a sweeper was a major factor in her election victory, especially what she exhibited during the pandemic. She also worked as a manual scavenger when there were no toilets.
After the results were announced, Ganesh Paswan, Gaya’s recently elected mayor, received high praise for his support towards Chinta Devi.
“Gaya is one such place where people seek enlightenment, and it is also where Dalit women can go to Lok Sabha. By choosing Chinta Devi, who worked as a scavenger, the people of Gaya have set an example for the whole world. This is Historic!” said Paswan to the Press.
This is not the first time candidates from historically marginalized groups have won elections in Bihar.
In 1996, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal helped elect Bhagwati Devi, a woman from the marginalized community, for the Gaya parliamentary seat.
The fact that China Devi won shows that the people of Gaya have the will to challenge stereotypes and vote for those who run their cities well.