To woo women voters, Congress deliberately fielded six females this time for the upcoming LS polls. In 2019 Congress had fielded only one woman. These six women candidates are former MLA and General Secretary of the All-India Mahila Congress Sowmya Reddy from Bangalore South; Geetha Shivarajkumar from Shimoga; Samukta Patil from Bagalkot; daughter of Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi, Priyanka Jharkiholi from Chikkodi; Dr. Anjali Nimbalkar from North Kannada and Dr. Prabha Mallikarjun from Davangere.
Sowmya Reddy, Samyukta Patil, Priyanka Jharkiholi, and Mrinal Hebbalkar are children of sitting ministers. The saffron party criticized and BJP General Secretary V Sunil Kumar taunted, “Only a handful of seats don’t have children of leaders as candidates.” Over this Priyanka Jharkiholi said that which party doesn’t have family politics? Similarly, it’s there in Congress too, she added.
Daughter of Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Sowmya Reddy said that six out of 28 candidates are a big number. Our guarantees have had a massive impact on women.
To counter BJP’s emphasis on youths, in the Congress ticket list at least 12 young candidates are first-timers. 26-year-old is the youngest candidate on the Congress ticket list. Deputy CM DK Shivkumar said, “In my long political career of 40 years, this is the first time I am seeing so many new faces, youth and women contenders are there for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.”
Congress has given tickets to persons making their electoral debut like G Kumar Naik from Raichur; Vinod Asooti from Dharwad; M.Lakshman from Mysore; from Bangalore Central Mansoor Ali Khan; Venkatramane Gowda from Mandya; Sagar Khandre; Mrinal Hebbalkar from Belgaum; MV Rajeev Gowda from Bangalore North; Prabha Mallikarjun; Padmaraj R from South Kannada; Samyukta and Radhakrishna Doddamani from Gulbarga.
Aimed at maximizing prospects, blending familial ties, experience, and community representation, Congress is positioning itself with the BJP in the forthcoming polls.