How successful will the Congress' bid to field 50% women in the UP Assembly elections be?

Lucknow, October 18, 2021, Tuesday

Uttar Pradesh is the largest state in India politically. Political parties are gearing up for the next assembly elections in the state, known as UP. While the UP war is a question of survival for some parties, it is a challenge for a party like the BJP to maintain its rule. Apart from the two national parties in UP, the BJP and the Congress, the litmus test is similar for the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Party, which emerged from local politics and reached the national level. The BJP has made a comeback in almost the entire UP in terms of organization and victory. The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Party have the opportunity to win the trust of the people and regain the lost political ground. Ideologically, UP's politics is BJP versus all, but even in All, everyone has their own political maths and their own ambitions. The main political party, the Congress, has lost its vote bank for many years. The last two decades have been ruled by SP, Bahujan and BJP but the Congress has remained out of power.

Whether it is the Lok Sabha elections or the Congress, the Congress has been constantly eroding. There is self-reflection and review when there is a rift in the election but the result does not improve in the second election. The fact that the Congress is thus being beaten across the country in terms of organizational structure and strategy is evident from the results of the previous state elections. The situation is even worse in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress is fielding Priyanka Gandhi as a popular face for the upcoming UP Assembly elections. As Priyanka Gandhi is a well-known and important face of the family and the Congress, her statements are taken seriously in the media as well, but it all depends on how strong the paralyzed organization can be in UP. In UP, in the battle between BJP, SP and Bahujan, the Congress has been seen for the last time in terms of votes.

In Uttar Pradesh, 50 per cent of the 202 assembly seats have been reserved for women, meaning that 18 seats will be given to women candidates in the next UP assembly elections. At first glance, this is a good start when political parties have not reached the 5 per cent women's reserve, but Priyanka Gandhi has played the women's card. Therefore, other political parties are also likely to give more opportunities to women. Speaking of the Congress, the fact that the candidate will be a woman does not mean that he will get votes. The Congress needs to strengthen the organization at the village level. Political experts believe that it is difficult to achieve success in Uttar Pradesh just by playing the superficial women's card if this cannot be done under the leadership of UP in-charge Priyanka Gandhi.