Over three dozen Mahila Congress aspirants begin lobbying for ticket

In 2018 Assembly polls, the party fielded 15 candidates and six had won; all incumbent women MLAs are likely to get tickets

After the State-level ‘Na Nayaki’ (I am a woman leader) convention of the Mahila Congress of the KPCC, nearly three-dozen women aspirants have begun lobbying with senior leaders as well Central leaders of the party, seeking the ticket to contest 2023 Legislative Assembly elections.

Women aspirants have been largely seeking the ticket in reserved constituencies and segments where there are no “winnable” male candidates of the party, sources in the Mahila Congress told The Hindu.

Close to 180 women aspirants have submitted applications to the KPCC seeking the ticket for contesting elections, and of them, 36 female members are “serious and keen to contest elections”, sources said.

In the 2018 Assembly polls, the party fielded 15 candidates, and of them, six had won.

“Women aspirants are meeting senior party leaders both in Bengaluru and Delhi to seek ticket. Our appeal is to field at least at least 10% of the total seats (224) of the Legislative Assembly,” said Mahila Congress president B. Pushpa Amarnath, who is credited with playing a key role in organising the ‘Na Nayaki’ meet inaugurated by AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday. Karnataka has close to 2.51 crore women voters in 2023 Assembly elections.

The Congress has made a women’s manifesto in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections held in 2022. A total of 148 candidates of the Congress entered the election fray in U.P. polls as a symbol of struggle with the slogan “Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon.” Only one woman, Aradhana Mishra Mona, won the election.

Ms. Vadra admitted at the rally in Bengaluru that the party performed poorly in U.P. elections. But “the party managed to make every political party notice women and respond to the needs of women,‘‘ she said.