New Delhi:Asha Singh, mother of Unnao rape victim, has figured in the list of 125 candidates Congress announced on Thursday for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls.
"In the first list of 125 candidates for UP polls, 50 candidates are women, including Asha Singh, mother of the Unnao rape victim. From Shahjahanpur, we have fielded Asha worker, Poonam Pandey who led agitation for a raise in honorarium," Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi said.
"Out of the total 125 candidates, 40% are women and 40% are the youth. With this historic initiative, we hope to bring in a new kind of politics in the state," she added.
"Our list gives a new message. We want to tell those who have struggled for their rights and for seeking justice in the past, that they have the power to fight for their rights and the Congress party will give that power to them to be a part of power in the state," she said.
The AICC general secretary in-charge for Uttar Pradesh did not answer whether she will contest the elections herself. She said the party will not run a negative campaign in these polls and will instead run a positive campaign for a bright future of Uttar Pradesh while highlighting the issues concerning the people and those of women and development.
Taking on the Uttar Pradesh government, she said, it has been "dictatorial" and the discussion in elections is skewed. "Our focus would be to bring issues of people to centre-stage," she said. Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to have seven-phase polls beginning from February 10
The Congress leader said that the party will run a "positive campaign" campaign for the bright future of Uttar Pradesh. Like Congress, BJP is expected to release its first list of candidates for UP polls as the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting is underway in Delhi to finalize the names. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also attend the meeting virtually.
Some of the female names on the list include Nida Ahmed, Pankhuri Pathak, Pratima Atal Pal, Gyanmati Devi, Supriya Iron, Aarti Bajpai, Sadaf Zafar, Lewis Khurshid, Aradhana Mishra, Asha Bahu, Poonam Pandey, Sadaf Zafar, Alpana Nishad, Ritu Singh, and Mamta Chaudhary.
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