The Congress party is planning to give priority to women candidates during ticket distribution for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. As part of the strategy, the party has directed that the three-member candidate panel prepared for each constituency must include at least one woman candidate.
The party’s newly appointed Uttar Pradesh in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam and state president Ajay Rai have conveyed this message to women leaders within the organisation. Through the move, Congress aims to strengthen its outreach among women voters while also putting pressure on the BJP over the issue of women’s reservation.
Women Leaders Asked To Start Election Preparations
In this regard, the party held a meeting three days ago with women leaders who contested the assembly elections. The state in-charge asked all former candidates to begin preparing for the elections. He also instructed the former women candidates to corner the BJP on women's issues.
Women leaders have been advised to promote policies and ideology of the Congress among the women voters, to ensure public interaction with voters for increased outreach, leading up to elections.
Congress Eyes Repeat Of Women-Centric Strategy
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, then state in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had announced that 40 per cent of Congress tickets would be given to women candidates. However, the strategy failed to deliver electoral gains for the party.
This time too, Congress is likely to continue its alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP), which may limit the number of seats available to the party. However, Congress leaders are pushing for a larger share of seats and greater representation during seat-sharing talks.
State president Ajay Rai said the final decision on ticket distribution will be taken by the party’s central leadership. Meanwhile, the state unit has started the process of preparing candidate panels, with at least one woman candidate expected to be included for every seat.