Cong to double women candidates in Karnataka

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New Delhi, Apr 24 With a determined Sonia Gandhi unwilling to have the Congress merely pay lip service when it comes to women empowerment, the party has decided to double the number of women candidates for the Karnataka assembly elections.

The party will be fielding at least 14 women candidates in the state— doubling it from the seven it had put up the last time. This may still be a small number in percentage terms but the decision has infused hope in ticket seekers belonging to the opposite sex as the number is expected to go up when the party decides on the remaining 50 odd seats this weekend. The central election committee (CEC) headed by the Congress president will be meeting on Saturday to finalise the remaining candidates.

The leadership has also decided to give preference to new faces with at least 38 beneficiaries in the list of 160 that has been cleared by the party. Party circles on Thursday hinted that the selection of candidates for Karnataka became a bit easier after the leadership took the policy decision to disallow kith and kin of senior leaders. Many leaders including Margaret Alva, CK Jaffer Sharif, RL Jalappa and BK Hariprasad had sought tickets for their close ones. Alva, sources said, even broke down when told that her son was being denied the party ticket.