Rajkot: Bharti Garva aged 20 years won by 117 votes to become the first sarpanch of Balika Panchayat in Kunariya Bhuj Taluka Village on Monday.
The village held an election to choose Balika Panchayat, a unique body that will be regulated by girls under the age of 21 to overcome the problems faced by women and young women.
As many as 410 voters, all girls aged between 10-21 years, gave their voices to choose Sarpana.
All four candidates campaigned contests aggressively during the election.
The newly elected Sarpanch, Garva, who pursued his graduation through distance learning, all of which were directed to a new role.
“The experience of Balika Panchayat will be useful in the effective implementation of 50% of female reservations in Pancayati Raj.
We will focus on problems such as health, education, nutritional food and we will also arrange training to improve the career of a girl,” Garva said.
“Other villages also follow this model.
We will form the Panchayats Balika Federation from all villages and that the Federation can request the District Administration to make decisions relating to women’s empowerment,” said Suresh Chhanga, Sarpanch from Kunariya Village, said.
In the village of Mandvi Mandvi Taluka and Mota Angiya, Sarpanch was chosen unanimously on Monday so that the election was not needed.
A standard student of the 11th Vidhi Rajgor was chosen as Sarpanch from Mastica while Puja Garva, a Masters student of Social Work (MSW), was chosen as Sarpanch of Mota Angiya.