Bhubaneswar: Soon after the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) decided to give priority to women candidates in the upcoming elections, the Odisha Congress too seemed to have jumped onto the bandwagon with the same set of announcements.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Niranjan Patnaik Wednesday said that his party is now inclined to see more participation of women into politics. It is believed that the central leadership of the Congress party is now seeking to see more women participation in the elections.
Patnaik, soon after his return from the national capital after attending a meeting of the screening committee, told reporters in the city that the party high command has asked the state leadership to search for more women candidates and make the list accordingly.
“Many names have been shortlisted but nothing has been finalised yet. We have been asked to seek more names of deserving women candidates from the state and do some fields works for the same. We have been asked by the AICC to give more tickets to the women candidates,” Patnaik said.
“As per the direction of All India Congress Committee (AICC), the party will give more tickets to women in the ensuing elections,” Patnaik added.
The OPCC president told reporters that the AICC Central Election Committee (CEC) has successfully finalised the shortlisting of candidates for 15 Lok Sabha constituencies and 105 candidates for the Assembly elections from the coastal state.
The CEC is again slated to hold its meeting on March 16 to pick candidates for the remaining six Lok Sabha seats and 42 Assembly seats. The development from the Congress party comes into scene soon after the BJD and its president Naveen Patnaik started wooing the women electorate from the state by announcing to give more space to women candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.