Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has said that the party will give 40% of the total election tickets to women in the state.

       Gandhi, who is the face of Congress' election campaign in UP, said: “The Congress party has decided that it will give 40 per cent of the total election tickets to women. These tickets will be given on the basis of merit and not just on the basis of caste or religion."

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       "I have taken this decision for women's empowerment. There is no other political motive, agenda behind this decision," she added.

       Further, slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Uttar Pradesh government in the state over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, she said: "Unfortunately, those who mow down people in the state are protected by the Centre and those who get killed, mowed down plead for justice here."

       "We all saw what happened in Hathras, Lakhimpur....what do you expect from such a BJP government," she said.

       Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in charge of Uttar Pradesh.

       Party's newly-appointed campaign committee chief PL Punia had recently said that Gandhi is the most popular political figure in UP at present.

       "Priyanka Gandhi ji hi humara ek chehra hongi jinke ird-gird poora election campaign chalega (the election campaign will be revolve around Priyanka Gandhi)," he had said.

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       He also noted that very rarely has Congress announced a chief ministerial face and said that not having declared one till now will not hamper the party's chances as it already has a personality like Priyanka Gandhi to lead the charge against the BJP.

       It is a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP in the UP polls as both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have "fallen behind" and were "not in the fight anymore", Punia was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

       In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67% vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.

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