Poor representation of women in Congress candidates' list irks leaders

BHUBANESWAR: The first list of Congress candidates for six of 21 Lok Sabha and 36 of 147 assembly seats, which contained only one woman candidate for an assembly seat, has left female leaders highly disappointed. The list that came out on Monday late night failed to give proper representation to women as promised earlier by the party.
Though the party had announced that it would give a fair deal to women during distribution of tickets, not a single woman was given ticket for the six Lok Sabha seats — Bargarh, Sundargarh, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Kandhamal and Berhampur.Meanwhile, name of only one woman, Laxmipriya Nayak, for Chitrakonda assembly segment figured in the assembly list.
After BJD and TMC announced 33 per cent and 41 per cent reservation of Lok Sabha tickets for women in Odisha and West Bengal, respectively, the Congress state president, Niranjan Patnaik, on March 13 had said the All India Congress Committee (AICC) asked him to recommend more women aspirants for assembly and Lok Sabha seats.
The poor representation of women in the first list has upset the Mahila Congress leaders. “We are really disappointed over the poor representation of women in the first list. We hope that the next lists of candidates have adequate numbers of women. I will also draw the attention of the party high command,” Mahila Congress state president Sumitra Jena told TOI.
Jena, who is an aspirant for ticket for Bhadrak assembly constituency, said names of at least 52 women aspirants were recommended for the total 147 assembly constituencies and eight women for the total 21 Lok Sabha seats. Jena hinted at a possible revolt if women candidates are denied tickets in the next phases.
“Since Congress has been focussing on women-related issues and offering a lot of women-centric promises, including marriage assistance and free higher education among others, we had expected some women candidates in the first list. But we feel let-down,” Congress worker Priyanka Pradhan said.
However, Niranjan said, “Women representation will be good in the remaining 111 assembly and 15 Lok Sabha seats. I cannot comment on the reason behind the denial of Lok Sabha tickets to women at this initial stage. Though names of several women aspirants were proposed, the party high command gave ticket to only one woman of the 36 assembly seats announced. We hope that the women candidates will get fair representation in the phases to come.”
In 2014, Congress had fielded eight women candidates (Jashipur, Binjharpur, Hindol, Talcher, Baramba, Chilika, Khandapada and Daspalla) in the total 147 assembly seats and two (Puri and Cuttack) in the total 21 Lok Sabha seats. All of the women candidates had been defeated in the Lok Sabha and assembly seats.