UP Polls: Congress to give 40% poll tickets to women; Priyanka Gandhi explains rationale

In a historic move, the Congress party has decided to allocate 40% of its poll tickets for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll to women. Flanked by party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate and Legislative Party leader Aradhana Misra, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made this important announcement during a press briefing on Tuesday. This comes at a juncture when the Women's Reservation Bill which aims to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies is pending for several years.

Explaining the thought process behind this decision, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra remarked, "If it (proportion of tickets allocated to women) increases here, it will increase at the national level too. I am the UP in-charge. We have taken a decision here with everyone's consent. The rationale for this is that women are not coming together to become a force. They are being divided into caste and religion. The political parties feel that they can women happy by giving a gas cylinder of Rs.2000. But the struggle of women is a very long one." 

Countering the charge that this reservation will be misused by men fielding their female relatives as proxies, she added, "It is true that on many occasions, some people get their wives and daughters to contest polls. But there is not a very bad thing. They fight the poll and become capable. I recall that there was a pradhan in Amethi who made his wife contest. After many years, he came to me and said that I can't control her and that she is taking all decisions. I asked him why is he complaining now. This is the start of a process".

Appealing to women to submit their applications for the election ticket till November 15, she promised that they will play an integral role in the politics of Uttar Pradesh. She also mentioned, "If left to me, I would have reserved 50% of the total seats for women". When questioned on whether she would contest the Assembly election and be the CM face, Vadra revealed that a decision in this regard was yet to be taken. 

Uttar Pradesh polls

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies. While this was seen as a mandate for PM Modi as BJP had not declared any CM candidate, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath was a surprise pick for the post.  Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra faces an uphill task of reviving the party in UP where it won only 7 seats in the 2017 Assembly polls. 

Addressing the media on September 12, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid indicated that the party may not project Vadra as the CM face before the election. Revealing that Congress will contest all 403 seats in the state, he added, "The party will not form an alliance with any party. We will contest the elections with firm belief. Party workers will go to each constituency to know the problems being faced by the local people". To bolster its chances, Congress decided to embark on a 12,000 km-long yatra 'Hum Vachan Nibhayenge Pratigya' (we will fulfil our promises) Yatra across the state.