Competitiveness is a sign of progress in both economic and political arenas. There has been a significant rise in the number of contestants and heightened competition in the 2015 elections of village heads in Uttar Pradesh in which women contested in large numbers. The institutional incentive of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution certainly acted as a booster. But an empirical account of people’s perceptions presents an untold story of social institutionalization which reinforces the submissiveness of women who contest elections primarily for preserving family position and prestige and rarely out of independent choice. The study takes a closer look at the factors that trigger higher contestation and women’s participation as candidates in village head elections. The study goes beyond the explanations offered by top-down approaches to electoral democracy and institutional studies of decentralization to account for specificities of gender dynamics in local politics.

竞争力是经济和政治领域进步的标志。2015年北方邦的村长选举中，参加比赛的人数显着增加，竞争加剧，妇女大量参加比赛。宪法第73条修正案的机构激励措施无疑起到了促进作用。但是，根据人们的看法进行的实证研究提出了一个不为人知的社会制度化故事，该故事强化了为参加竞选而主要是为了维护家庭地位和威望而很少出于独立选择而参加竞选的妇女的顺从性。这项研究仔细研究了引发较高竞争和妇女参与村长选举的因素。