Congress releases second list of 41 candidates, with 16 women

New Delhi: The Congress announced its second list of 41 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on Thursday. As part of its second list of 41 candidates, the Congress included 16 women for the forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The women candidates include Sukhwinder Kaur from Saharanpur, farmer leader Poonam Pandit from Syana and Dr Yasmeen Rana from Charthawal.

The Congress had promised to give 40 per cent seats to women candidates in Uttar Pradesh which is reflected in the second list.

The total number of tickets given to women are 66 out of the declared of 166 candidates, which is marginally higher than the 40 per cent as promised by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra party General Secretary and In-charge UP.

Last week the party had declared the names of 125 candidates in which 50 are women, constituting 40 per cent of the candidates.

The women have been chosen from diverse backgrounds. These include the mother of Unnao rape survivor; Poonam Pandey an Asha Worker; Nida Ahmed, a journalist; and social activist Sadaf Jafar from Lucknow who was at forefront of anti-CAA protests.

Priyanka had earlier announced that 40 per cent of the tickets would be given to women and had coined a slogan - 'girls can fight'.

Priyanka said, "We wanted to give a chance to the people who have been fighting for their rights, so the real people will get the chance to fight for their cause."

She said that political rights need to be given to the women.

The Congress leader said that the party has tried to change the political narrative of the state and wants that there should be discussion on employment, health, law and order and other women related issues.