BJP, Congress candidates' list: Raw deal to women and youth, BJP, Congress, BJP Congress candidates,Chhattisgarh, BJP Vs Congress, Chhattisgarh assembly election, Chhattisgarh election candidates list.

BJP, Congress candidates' list: Raw deal to women and youth.

RAIPUR: Despite tall claims of women and youth empowerment by Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, politics in Chhattisgarh remains dominated by males and 'oldies', if one goes by the profile of contesting candidates.

Congress, with Sonia Gandhi at its helm, has been a strong votary for women's reservation, granting them 33 per cent seats, but when it comes to giving tickets, only 14 women have found place in the list of 86 candidates announced by the party of the 90 seats in the state.

Though there is marginal increase in the number of women candidates fielded by the party in 2008 and 2013, from 11% to 16%, it's far from the reservation target.Incidentally, Congress fares better, at least in this regard, as BJP has only 12% women on 90 seats on which it is contesting. The party has given tickets to 11 women candidates, as compared to 10 in the last polls.

Also Read: Opinion poll | Candidtate list | Election Schedule | Delhi News | National News .

As far as age of the BJP and Congress candidates is concerned, a comparison of the two shows that both parties have fielded lesser number of youth (under 40).

The lions share has been coveted by the 'aged' in both parties but on the face of it, the 'grand old party' (read Congress) has more grey hair on its side. For Congress, which is desperately trying to project itself as a 'young' party, led by 'youth' leader, Rahul Gandhi, it's ironical that it has given seats to only 13 candidates (15%), under 40.

What is even more surprising is, at a time when Rahul has been promising a 'young government' in 2014, number of youths contenting the ensuing elections is even less than the 2008 figure when the party fielded 15 candidates (17%) on the 87 seats that it contested.

BJP has apparently done much better in this regard, as it has 21 youths (23%), on 90 seats announced by it. However, the number is considerably less than the 2008 figure of 26 (32%).

Interestingly, contrary to its image of being a party of 'businessmen', the BJP has 62 candidates citing farming as their profession, in fray, as compared to 56 of Congress.

Besides, the party has 11 businessmen, 6 doctors, 5 lawyers and 3 housewives in fray as compared to 7, 4, 4, and 6 of Congress respectively. When contacted both BJP and Congress spokespersons, Rasik Parmar and Sushil Shukla respectively refused to comment. They maintained that their main criterion for candidate selection was'winnability'.

BJP, Congress candidates' list: Raw deal to women and youth, BJP, Congress, BJP Congress candidates,Chhattisgarh, BJP Vs Congress, Chhattisgarh assembly election, Chhattisgarh election candidates list.

source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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