The prestigious British-era Delhi Gymkhana Club, whose members include the Prime Minister, vice-president, several Union ministers as well as retired and serving bureaucrats, could soon shed its “chauvinistic” image and get a first-ever woman president.
The high-profile club, where many people have had to wait for as long as 35 years to be conferred with the much sought-after membership, prepares to hold a fiercely-contested presidential election on Friday with four contenders — retired RAW chief A.S. Dulat; Vijay Chibber, serving as additional secretary and financial advisor, ministry of shipping, road transport & highways; retired DGP B.L. Vohra and Urmila Gupta, retired deputy director general of Doordarshan.
Gupta is the second woman to be contesting the polls for the president’s post since 1985 when women members were given the right to vote. If she wins, she would be the first-ever woman president at the club that is celebrating its centenary year.
She, however, said that she isn’t promoting herself as a “woman” candidate.
“I’m not focusing my campaign on being a woman. I’m only saying that the club has a lot of scope for improvement and I as an individual, irrespective of my gender, can make a lot of difference for the benefit of the members Since we have never had a woman president, if I win it’ll have symbolic value of empowerment of women, of changing mindsets. Nothing more than that,” she said, adding in a lighter vein, “I do believe that adding a woman’s touch (as president) will be good for the club.”
Promoting herself as the sole woman candidate to woo women voters would not even be logical, said Gupta as the club has 5,600 members with voting rights, out of which only 320 are women. “During the past elections, the voter turnout has been between 35 per cent and 50 per cent, with only 60-65 women casting their votes. Getting vote on gender issue would only be a drop in the ocean,” she said.