Other than rape and sexual abuse, it has also been found that women representatives who are efficient often attract slanderous allegations of sexual liaisons. In many states there have even been attempts to intimidate women into withdrawing from the election by insinuations of affairs with men. Violence against women representatives is, of course, generally worse when they also happen to be members of the scheduled castes or tribes. Gundiyabai Ahirwar, the dalit Sarpanch of Pipra village in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh, was prevented from performing a ceremonial duty - hoisting the national flag in her village on Independence Day - because the Yadav (a backward caste) majority in the village thought that a dalit would pollute the national flag by touching it.