A woman, who earned a good living standard with a well-paying job in Dubai in the last 10 years, has left all of it and flown back to India, with one aim, to contest the panchayat elections in her home state, Rajasthan.

The local polls are being held in four phases in Rajasthan. While the first phase was on January 18, the second phase will take place on January 22.
Sunita, who has decided to quit her plush job with a shipping company, her husband and a comfortable life, in Dubai, will contest in the second phase.

She is contesting local polls in the Nangal village, where her in-laws live, in Sikar district. She says she wants to work for round-the-clock electricity and water supply and create ample employment opportunities for women. Quality education for girls also figures on her to-do list.

After staying in Dubai for a decade, she returned to her husband’s village with a craving to develop it.

While her husband still works in Dubai, Sunita will be trying her luck in politics, a field that is completely new for her and her family. “While working in Dubai, I saw that people work hard to grow their country. Hence, I am here to work for my area,” she said.

The second phase of polling in 2,312 village panchayats of Rajasthan will be held on Wednesday and all preparations have been made for conducting free, fair and peaceful elections, officials said on Tuesday.

In the second phase, 21 sarpanches and 7,466 panches have been elected unopposed in 25 districts. Apart from these, 15,334 candidates are in the fray for sarpanch posts and 43,376 candidates for panch posts.

In another development, at a time when the debate on the CAA and NPR rages on, a Pakistan-born Neeta Kanwar is contesting panchayat elections in Rajasthan. Kanwar, an immigrant from Pakistan who was recently given Indian citizenship is contesting panchayat elections in Natwara. She received Indian citizenship after living here for 18 years and is now contesting sarpanch election from Natwara gram panchayat which falls under Tonk district.