Around 58 pc voting in UP till 5 pm
ECI officials here maintained that not a single incident of violence was reported from anywhere so far.
In a major decision, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Tuesday, announced that her party would give 40 per cent tickets to women in the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
“Any woman who wants to contest can give an application till October 15,” she announced at a press conference.
Priyanka said the decision was for the woman named Paro, who had held her hand in Prayagraj and had said that she wanted to join politics.
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“This decision is for Vaishnavi in Chandauli and the sisters-in-law of two rape victims of Hathras and Unnao, who are fighting for justice and against the system.
“This is for every woman who wants to be heard – whether it is Laxmi Valmiki of Lucknow who wants to be a doctor, the daughter of journalist Raman Kashyap who was killed in Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
“This is also for two women constables – Madhu and Pooja, who arrested me in Sitapur and were with me till 4.a.m. Power today amounts to trampling over the weaker sections of society, primarily women,” Priyanka said.
She refused to comment if this formula would be applied for other states as well, explaining that since she is in-charge of UP, she made the decision.
“A woman’s struggle is not limited to a gas cylinder or Rs 2,000. It goes beyond that. We have to rise above the shackles of casteism and communalism and come together as a group,” she said.
Priyanka, when asked whether wives and daughters of leaders would not take advantage of this reservation, said, “What is wrong with that if it leads to empowerment. In Amethi, a village pradhan’s wife contested and won elections. After some months, he met me and said that his wife has started making decisions in the house as well. This is empowerment.”
“These issues will be decided later and we will let you know,” she stated when asked about the chief ministerial candidate of the Congress in UP and if she would contest elections.
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