Rahul Gandhi faces unusual request from Mahila Congress

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi is facing an unusual request from the Congress’ women’s wing: field candidates belonging to the fairer sex in constituencies where the party is sure to lose in the upcoming assembly elections.

Unable to break the glass ceiling on ticket allocations in successive elections, the Mahila Congress has come up with this suggestion that could leave the Congress vice-president and leader-in waiting with a proverbial Hobson’s Choice: grant the wish and he could earn plaudits for walking the talk on empowerment he has long cited, but in the process, acknowledge and even advertise the party’s expectations of defeat in those seats.

“I have already conveyed to Rahulji that at least allow us to contest on losing seats which the Congress is certain it would lose. This way at least we women would know how to prepare for an election, reach out to people and contest on the ground,” Mahila Congress chief Anita Verma told ET.

Frustrated with the argument of “winnability” being always thrown their way when it comes to allocation of tickets, Verma is keen her suggestion is tried out in the upcoming assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, MP, Delhi and Rajasthan.

In addition to recommending strong candidates for winnable seats, she also intends to make a pitch for assembly constituencies where Congress is sure to lose and does not think such a strategy could have an adverse effect on the morale of her women leaders.

“Right now many women contest elections because they are being pushed by their husbands and they don’t know what it takes. But once they fight on ground zero they will know and next elections they would be better prepared,” Verma said.

Data from the last few assembly polls reveals that the Congress, which had spearheaded the campaign to pass Women’s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha in 2010, has been less than enthusiastic when it comes to actual ticket allocation to women.

In the Gujarat assembly elections, the Congress gave just 14 women tickets out of the 180 seats it contested on. In Verma’s home state of Himachal Pradesh, Congress fielded four women in the 68 seats it contested. In Karanataka, just 11 women were given tickets even though the party contested 223 assembly segments.

“This is why we have been demanding 33% quota for women in the assemblies and parliament. This way at least we will start somewhere. It is because of Rajiv ji (former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi) that we have women grassroot leaders, but they need some level playing field to graduate to assembly and then later Parliament,” said Verma.