The Congress on Thursday released the party's first list of 125 candidates, including 50 women, for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The party has also fielded Unnao rape victim's mother Asha Singh from the Unnao Assembly constituency.

Addressing a press conference, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said 40 percent of the party's candidates are women and another 40 percent are youth.

She said the party has fielded those candidates who have struggled for seeking justice in Uttar Pradesh. The party wants them to come to the forefront and be a part of power in the state, the Gandhi scion added.

"With 40 percent women and 40 percent youth, we hope to start a new kind of politics in Uttar Pradesh,"she said. "Our list gives a new message. We want to tell those who have struggled for their rights and for seeking justice in the past, that they have the power to fight for their rights and the Congress party will give that power to them to be a part of power in the state," she added.

इस सूची में संघर्षशील प्रत्याशी हैं, जो एक नई राजनीति की पहल करेंगे।

हमें आशा है कि इनके जरिए हम प्रदेश की राजनीति में नई उम्मीद लेकर आएंगे, एक परिवर्तन लेकर आएंगे।#आ_रही_है_कांग्रेस pic.twitter.com/Q9YXsMU1Ll— Congress (@INCIndia) January 13, 2022

Priyanka, who is in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, however did not answer whether she will contest the elections herself. She said the grand-old party will not run a negative campaign in these polls and will instead run a positive campaign for a bright future of Uttar Pradesh while highlighting the issues concerning the people and those of women and development. "Our focus would be to bring issues of people to centre-stage," she said.

Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to hold seven-phase polls beginning from February 10.

The Congress has decided to field Pankhuri Pathak from Noida, Manoj Chaudhary from Dadri and Deepak Bhati 'Chotiwala' from Jewar, according to the list of candidates shared by the party on social media.

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Assembly Elections 2022 schedule: Uttar Pradesh polls between Feb 10 to March 7; Punjab on Feb 14: Highlights from EC briefing

All three assembly seats are currently held by BJP leaders - Pankaj Singh in Noida, Tejpal Nagar in Dadri and Dhirendra Singh in Jewar. Elections to these seats will be held on February 10 in the first phase of polls in Uttar Pradesh and the results will be announced on March 10.

Uttar Pradesh assembly elections 2022: Here's the list of candidates

-With agency inputs

(Edited by : Bivekananda Biswas)

First Published:Jan 13, 2022 1:54 PM IST