The Samajwadi Party will reserve at least 20% tickets for women candidates in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Samajwadi Party, which is a part of the INDIA bloc, is confident that despite losing the battle in parliament in forcing the Narendra Modi government to provide quota within 33% quota for the OBC women, is confident that it will have an edge in the perception war and force the BJP to follow suit.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has said on Thursday that they would reserve at least 20% tickets for women in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “We want to tell all the women that if there are any women workers or office-bearers who have done some work, the SP will give 20% tickets to them irrespective of whether the BJP fields 33% women or not,” Akhilish had said while addressing a rally in Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.
The SP leaders said that after Akhilesh’s bold declaration, all eyes will be not only on the party but also on others.
“We will not allow the BJP to draw political mileage in the 2024 Lok Sabha election from the women reservation law. In fact, the Samajwadi Party will force the BJP to defend its credibility and credentials among the women voters by giving at least equal number of tickets to women candidates as announced by our party,” a Samajwadi Party leader said.
“This move will also help the party fight adverse and negative issues associated with the party,” he added.
UP sends the biggest contingent of 80 MPs to Lok Sabha. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, there were 11 women among the MPs from UP, eight of whom were BJP candidates, apart from one from BJP ally Apna Dal, one from the Congress and one from the BSP.
The task of allotting 20% tickets to women won’t be easy for the SP, which fielded only six women in 2019, when it contested in alliance with the BSP. None of them won, including Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav, who later entered Lok Sabha through the by-election to Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in 2022.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, there were 106 women candidates in the fray from UP, including independents. While 11 candidates won, 84 lost their deposits. The BJP had fielded 10 women candidates. Its eight winners included Hema Malini and Smriti Irani.
The surprise losers were Neelam Sonkar from Lalganj reserved seat, and former actress Jaya Prada from Rampur. Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel, a BJP ally, had won from Mirzapur. The SP had fielded six women, including Dimple Yadav from Kannauj, besides celebrities like Poonam Shatrughan Sinha, but none could win.