Journalism of Courage
Following the path of Samajwadi Party, the Congress also fielded a Brahmin woman candidate against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the Gorakhpur Urban Assembly seat.
The party named 37-year-old Chetna Pandey as its nominee in Gorakhpur Urban. A poet and singer, Pandey is the former vice-president of the student union at Gorakhpur University and has been active in the region’s social sphere. In the 2017 Assembly polls, she had contested as an Independent in the Shahjanwa constituency, but gathered only 2200 votes. This time, with the backing of the Congress, she hopes to make an impact against the outgoing chief minister.
Pandey’s nomination is part of the Congress’ project to allot 40 per cent of its tickets to women in this election. Among the 33 candidates the party announced on Thursday, 15 were women.
The Congress has fielded Devendra Nishad in Gorakhpur Rural seat, former MP Rajesh Mishra in Varanasi Cantt, Gulrana Tabassum in Varanasi North, Mudita Kapoor in Varanasi South, Anju Singh in Shivpuri.
Other party nominees include Shyamrati Devi in Kushinagar, Pushpa Shukla in Malhani, Mala Devi Sonkar in Machhlishahr reserved constituency, Mira Ramchandra Pandey in Mariyahu, Laxmi Nagar in Zafrabad, Seema Devi in Saidpur reserved constituency, Farzana Khatoon in Zamania, Vimla Devi Bind in Saiyadraja, Asha Devi in Ajgara reserved constituency, Sanju Kannojia in Aurai reserved
constituency and Seema Devi in Chunar.
