Ensure 15 pc tickets to women, Cong panels told

NEW DELHI, Aug 21: Dissatisfied with the neglect of women by the Congress’s selection committees, party president Sonia Gandhi is believed to have pulled them up. She has issued an in-house circular to all these committees and general secretaries and directed them to ensure that at least 15 per cent representation is given to women.

Though all the lists are not out yet, the average of women’s representation has hovered around 7-8 per cent. This used to be the average in the past as well. While the Congress manifesto had talked about moving towards 33 per cent representation to women, Sonia had said it was probably not practical to achieve this in one go.

However, the party, she had promised, would ensure that at least 15 per cent of the Congress tickets were given to women.

Though the AIADMK was the first party to keep 33 per cent of party posts for women, Sonia took the initiative last December to call a special AICC session in Delhi to amend the party constitution to provide for one-third of theparty posts for women. However, in practice, it is turning out to be an uphill task.