Muslim-majority village elects Hindu woman as sarpanch

Nisha Chauhan speaking to reporters after her poll win.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A panchayat in Haryana’s Nuh district, with 14 of its 15 members Muslim, has elected its lone Hindu woman member as the village sarpanch. The village, Siroli, part of the Punhana block, has 3,296 voters, of which around 250 are Hindus, with Muslims comprising the remaining population.

Nuh, where most of the residents are Meo Muslims, is one of the State’s most backward districts. The district was at the centre of communal strife following an attack on a march organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad to the area’s Shiv temple in July 2023.

Punhana Panchayat Officer Naseem said the election of Nisha Chauhan, 30, as Siroli sarpanch on April 2 was the first instance in Nuh of a Muslim-dominated village electing a Hindu sarpanch.

Speaking to The Hindu over phone, Ms. Chauhan termed her victory “yet another example of Mewat’s centuries-old Hindu-Muslim unity”.

“We have a long tradition of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood. There is no religious discrimination in Mewat. My election will send a message of communal harmony across the region,” Ms. Chauhan said.

Unanimous choice

Nuh Block Development and Panchayat Officer Shamsher Singh, who has additional charge of Punhana, said, “The village has 15 panches (panchayat or ward members), eight of whom, including Ms. Chauhan, are women. Of the 15 members, 10 were present at the meeting on April 2 to elect the sarpanch. All of them voted in favour of Ms. Chauhan.”

Siroli is a socially prominent village in the region, with a few of its residents being caste leaders, or Chaudharys, among a cluster of 22 villages. The seat of the Siroli sarpanch is reserved for women. The election to the panchayat was held in December 2022. However, the winner, Sahana, was sacked a few months later after her education certificates were found to be fake.

Following this, Rukshina, a ward member, took over as the working sarpanch in March 2024. But her tenure was also cut short after the panchayat members, dissatisfied with her work, brought a no-confidence motion against her in February this year.

‘See hope in her’

Former Siroli sarpanch Ashraf Ali, 50, who is now a ward member, said the panches had elected Ms. Chauhan hoping that she performs better than her predecessors.

Mr. Ali said the two religious communities in the region do not harbour ill will against each other. “A Hindu family here can scold their Muslim neighbours if they commit any mistake. The Hindu families in the area have nothing to fear. We attend each other’s weddings and other social functions.”