Originally reported and written in January 2023, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

After working for over a decade in Delhi for multinational companies and airlines, Dolly, an MBA graduate, left the perks of financial security and safety to work for people in rural Bihar.

In 2018, she moved to her in-laws’ place and contested for gram panchayat (village council) elections. A woman, an educated bahu (daughter-in-law), and a stranger to rural residents, it was challenging for her to win the hearts of voters, she recalls.

“The villagers doubted if I would be able to understand them because I was a modern woman who arrived from Delhi. There was a cultural difference between where I was born and brought up, and where I was married. So, I changed my lifestyle to fit in because politics is not about you, it’s about people,” Dolly, who is now the sarpanchof 13 wards of Shadipur gram panchayat of Bihar’s Gaya district, tells The Better India.

So, the 32-year-old — hailing from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh — started wearing sindoor (vermillion), sarees, and bangles, and cut ties with peers; all this for villagers who did not even consider her their own yet.

Inspired by her late mother-in-law who was also a sarpanch, Dolly contested the 2018 panchayat by-elections and won by 150 votes. “This was made possible with strong campaigning. I made my education and work experience my strength. I was the only woman contestant against seven male contestants,” recalls Dolly.

The vote share increased by ten times when the........

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