Yashoda Devi (1927–2004) was the first woman to be elected from a former

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

of India as a member of a legislative assembly. She was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan The Rajasthan Legislative Assembly or the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Rajasthan. The assembly meets at Vidhana Bhavan situated in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Members of the Legislative ass ...

from the Banswara constituency in 1953 as a candidate of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

. Her success, in which she obtained 63.75 per cent of the vote, resulted from a by-election which took place due to the poll for the prior MLA being deemed illegal. In total, four women candidates contested the constituency. Yashoda Devi was born in

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani language, Hindustani pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Prad ...

in 1927. After her education at Banasthali Vidhyapeeth and Bheel Ashram in Bamania, she became a campaigner for various issues. These included activism supporting women's rights and against alcohol, as well as the campaign opposing Riyasat. She was both chairman and general secretary of Akhil Hindu Vanwasi Mahila Panchayat. She was given the title '' Adarsh Nari'' by

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (23 October 1923 – 15 May 2010) was the 11th vice president of India. He served in that position from August 2002, when he was elected to a five-year term by the electoral college following the death of Krishan Kant ...

in April 2003 and died on 3 January 2004. One other woman, called

Kamala Beniwal Kamla Beniwal (born 12 January 1927) is an Indian politician. She was a senior member of Indian National Congress party. She served as a minister on different posts and Deputy Chief Minister during different time in Rajasthan. Later she served ...

, was elected to the same assembly later during its 1952–1957 term.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Yashoda 1927 births 2004 deaths Women in Rajasthan politics Rajasthan MLAs 1952–1957 Indian women's rights activists Politicians from Ujjain Indian women activists 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Activists from Rajasthan