Zohraben Akbarbhai Chavda (1923–1997) was a

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians. Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalism, ...

social reformer and member of the

3rd Lok Sabha List of Members of the 3rd Lok Sabha, (2 April 1962 – 3 March 1967) elected February–March 1962. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. The election was held for 494 seats out of which Indian nati ...

from

Banaskantha Banaskantha district is one of the thirty-three districts of the Gujarat state of India. The administrative headquarters of the district is at Palanpur which is also its largest city. The district is located in the Northeast of Gujarat and is pre ...

Early life

Zohraben was born on 2 September 1923 in

Prantij Prantij is a town and a municipality in Sabarkantha district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Geography Prantij is located at . Average height from sea level is 98 Meters (328 feet). Demographics India census, Prantij had a population of 22,30 ...

town of Gujarat to Jamiyatkhan Ummarkhan Pathan and his wife. She did her nursing training course from

Wardha Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Wardha district. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows at the north, west and south bounda ...

Career

After completing her training, Zohraben began working as a nurse in

Gujarat Vidyapith Gujarat Vidyapith is a deemed university in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It was founded in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the Indian independence movement, and deemed a university in 1963. Etymology "Vidyapith," in many languages of ...

and later shifted to

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Sabarmati Ashram Sabarmati Ashram (also known as Gandhi Ashram) is located in the Sabarmati suburb of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, adjoining the Ashram Road, on the banks of the River Sabarmati, from the town hall. This was one of the many residences of Mahatma Gandh ...

. On the advise of Gandhi, she and her husband went to Sanali village with the motive of improving the condition of underprivileged. Here they established an ''ashram'' and taught the children in ''ashramshala''. She served as the President of the Congress Committee in Banaskantha district and the Chairman of her district's Social Welfare Project. During the

1962 Indian general election General elections were held in India between 19 and 25 February 1962 to elect members of the 3rd Lok Sabha. Unlike the previous two elections, each constituency elected a single member. Jawaharlal Nehru won another landslide victory in his th ...

for the

, Zohraben stood and won from

on the ticket of

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

, polling 1,15,931 votes while her nearest rival, a candidate of

Swatantra Party The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party, that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly soci ...

secured 60,975. She and Maimoona Sultan were the only two Muslim women in the

Personal life

Zohraben married fellow Gandhian Akbarbhai Dalumiyan Chavda at

in 1946. She died in 1997 and Akbarbhai followed her the next year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chavda, Zohraben 1923 births 1997 deaths India MPs 1962–1967 Women members of the Lok Sabha Lok Sabha members from Gujarat People from Sabarkantha district Indian National Congress politicians from Gujarat Gandhians Indian women nurses Indian social reformers