Vijaya Barthwal is an Indian politician from the

Bhartiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. She is one of the most senior and active politician in Uttarakhand. She is three term

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

and had represented Yamkeshwar

assembly constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. She was in the Cabinet of chief minister B. C. Khanduri and

Ramesh Pokhriyal Ramesh Pokhriyal "Nishank" (born 15 July 1959), is an Indian politician from Bhartiya Janta Party. He served as the Human Resource Development Minister in the Union Government of India starting from 31 May 2019. The name of his ministry was cha ...

's government. She is also served as the first deputy speaker of

Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, also known as the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, is a unicameral governing and law making body of Uttarakhand, one of the 28 States and union territories of India, states of India. It is seated at Dehradun, the w ...

Career

Vijaya began her career from the political party

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

and elected first time as

in 2002. Later she won as a candidate of

in the 2007 and 2012 Uttarakhand Assembly Election. She never lost any election in her career. In 2017 assembly elections barthwal was denied party ticket and BJP decided to field Ritu Khanduri daughter of former uttarakhand chief minister instead of her against huge public outrage. Barthwal was the only women BJP MLA in the third assembly and holds an image of down to earth political worker. Barthwal filed the nomination to fight as an independent candidate but later withdrew her nomination supporting her party's decision.

Chairperson State Women Commission

On 22 December 2018, Senior BJP leader Vijay Barthwal has been made the chairperson of Uttarakhand State Women's commission. Barthwal was expected to be accommodated since she was denied the Assembly ticket from Yamkeshwar Assembly segment in 2017 despite being a sitting MLA. The party had fielded Ritu Khanduri, daughter of former Chief Minister B C Khanduri, from the constituency who had won. Here tenure as Uttarakhand State Women Commission chairperson ended in December 2021.

Cabinet minister

In 2007, Barthwal took oath as a Cabinet minister for Village Development, Culture, Women welfare and Child Development in Khanduri's Government and again in Nishank's Government uptill 2012 .

Deputy Speaker

BJP MLA Vijaya Barthawal was unanimously elected the first deputy speaker of

. The BJP MLA from Yamkeshwar assembly seat in Pauri district, Barthawal, was elected the first deputy speaker of the state assembly with the main Opposition

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) is a political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with Religious ...

decided not to field any candidate against her. After the formal announcement of her election by the assembly Speaker Harbans Kapoor, the ruling party members including leader of the house and Chief Minister B C Khanduri greeted Barthawal saying, getting elected, as a woman, for this high constitutional post is a step forward towards the women empowerment in the state. However, the main Opposition Indian National Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party members abstained on the occasion. Leaders of both the parties said they decided not to field any candidates against Barthwal as they do not have enough number in the house to win the election. They also criticised the ruling

for not following the healthy traditions of a parliamentary democracy and said that the post of deputy speaker goes to the opposition by convention. There was no deputy speaker in

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

since the state was formed in November 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barthwal, Vijaya People from Pauri Garhwal district Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Uttarakhand Uttarakhand MLAs 2002–2007 Living people 1952 births Uttarakhand MLAs 2007–2012 Uttarakhand MLAs 2012–2017