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Her name is all Veena Devi can write. But that does not prevent her from contesting village elections, as her husband and her lawyer filled out her nomination form for Tuesday's poll.

Indian women voters hold their identity cards as they stand in a queue outside a polling booth
© AFP Deshakalyan Chowdhury

Devi, 30, is one of the tens of thousands of women in eastern Bihar state -- one of the most impoverished, crime-ridden and caste-polarized in India -- who are contesting polls under a new rule that reserves half the seats for women in village bodies.

Housewife Devi says she was initially reluctant.

"I have been cajoled by my husband and relatives to contest as Mukhia (village head) and I could not say no because of family pressure", she says.

A consolation is that she has been given new saris which she wears as she sets out every morning to campaign with her husband.

Bihar, where panchayat or village body elections, are due Tuesday for more than 260,000 seats, became the first Indian state this year to up women reservation in village bodies to 50 percent.

In the rest of the country, 33 percent of the panchayat seats are kept for women.

The panchayat bodies do not have legislative power, but look after administrative, financial and development matters of their area.

They are seen as a key link in India's efforts to curb poverty by putting decision-making over development issues at the local level.

Women are a key part of the equation. India has mulled for nearly a decade to reserve one-third of seats for women in all legislative bodies, including in the federal legislature, where they make up less than 10 percent of the total strength.

Experts see women in decision-making bodies as necessary not only to uplift their social and economic status, but also because of a perception that their involvement improves debate.

The federal bill, however, has met with stiff resistance from political parties, who feel they may lose their male leaders under new rules. Critics of reservation for women in politics also say that the women have no real powers, and act mostly at the instance of their male relatives.

It is no different in Bihar, where men who stand to lose their seats have fielded women relatives in the polls to retain the seat within the family.

The former chief minister of Bihar, and now federal Railways Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav had his wife Rabri Devi installed as head of the state in 1996 when he was charged in a case involving embezzled funds meant to buy cattle fodder.

She ruled the state for almost 10 years as his proxy.

Not all women, however, are passive participants.

"I am a graduate and I know I can make a difference in the community, especially among the women if I win as mukhia", says Sadhna Devi.

Women activists also hail the move for reservation.

The "politics of inclusion are always better politics", says Nirmala Buch, chairwoman of the New Delhi-based Centre for Women's Development Studies.

She says her studies about women in politics in other Indian states have thrown up positive results.

"To write off women as illiterate and dummy candidates is highly misleading. Even men can be illiterate and proxies for other people. It is not a question of gender," Buch says.

Election officials in Bihar too are upbeat about the response from women, who come from all social and economic backgrounds.

"The initial response from women has been very encouraging," state election commissioner D.P. Maheshwari says.

Officials say women are also in the fray for the top position of village head.

"Women are not only contesting for the reserved seats but also filing nominations for general seats," says senior election official R.K. Sinha.

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