NEW DELHI: Making a big announcement in Lucknow, the Indian National Congress party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra today said that in the forthcoming 2022 Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly elections the party will give 40% of tickets to women candidates.

Addressing a press conference, which was themed 'Ladki hu lad sakti hu' meaning, "I am a girl and I can fight," Priyanka said, "We want women in politics to become full-fledged partners in power." 

Priyanka said that she and the party had taken this decision purely for women's empowerment and there was no other political motive, agenda behind this decision. 

Priyanka listed the decision of giving more tickets to women to her interactions with several women who had shared their aspirations saying, "This decision is for those Allahabad University girls who voiced their concerns that the rules in the university are different for men and women there, for the girl who urged me to set a pathshala during my Ganga Yatra, for the girl named Paro who I met in Prayagraj and dreamed of becoming a politician.

She added that decision was also for the woman in Chandauli who dreams of becoming a pilot, for the Unnao case affected victims, Hathras case affected victims and for the Lakhimpur Kheri girl who dreams of becoming the prime minister.

On selections of the candidates, Priyanka added that tickets will be given on the basis of merit, and not just on the basis of caste or religion.

The assembly elections in the state of UP are likely to be held during February and March of 2022. In the elections of 2017, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had won with an overwhelming mandate of 312 seats, while the outgoing Samajwadi Party (SP) had won 47 seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had won 19 seats. The Congress had won merely secured 7 seats, even lower than Apna Dal Sonelal Party which won 9 seats.