Lucknow: Will the Congress party’s game plan of fielding 40% of women candidates in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls gives results?

Actress jailed for protesting controversial Citizenship law, mother of a rape victim and a model will be contesting in upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has kick-started a high decibel campaign in the state. Her catchy slogan ‘I am a girl and I can fight’, the campaign has emphasized the growing importance of women voters in the state.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has promised of giving 40% tickets to women for the 403-seat state assembly constituencies. She has met that promise in the first list of candidates her party announced for the state polls that will be carried out in seven phases starting from Feb. 10. The election results will be released on March 10.

"If you have suffered in the past, you have to fight and grab power to fight for your rights," Ms Vadra said in a video posted on Twitter last week. Congress party's list of candidates is a new kind of politics, she said.

The women fielded by the Congress party are diverse. Sadaf Jafar, the actress who was jailed for her role in demonstrations against a religion-based citizenship law is now a Congress spokeswoman. Another candidate Poonam Pandey, led protestor wages by women frontline workers who are helping India to achieve its vaccination targets.

The rape survivor's mother has promised to work for the poor in her district if she is elected. Her daughter's rapist, a former powerful legislator, has been found guilty for sexual assault as well as murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

For Ms Vadra, who in 2019 formally joined the Congress party, the gambit is crucial. Her party has seen its star decline in Uttar Pradesh over the last two decades, NDTV reports