Congress releases third list, new names for 2 seats where former nominees quit

The party named Mohd Aslam Ansari as its new candidate on Bareilly Cantonment Assembly seat, after Supriya Aaron left the party to join Samajwadi Party (SP), and announced Ram Rakshapal Singh from Suar Assembly seat of Rampur from where young candidate Haider Ali Khan had left the party to join BJP ally, Apna Dal.

The party which had, earlier, promised to give away 40 per cent of the tickets to women candidates has ensured it by giving 37 women candidates in its third list. In the first list of 127 candidates, 50 were women, while out of 41 candidates in the second list, 16 were women. Party leaders also said that the average age of candidates in the third list is 43 years of age.

Keeping the caste and community equations in consideration, out of 89 names announced in the latest list, the party has given 21 tickets to Muslim candidates, 27 to general candidates out of which while 13 are Brahmin candidates, 1 is a Bhumihar, 1 Kayastha, 1 Vaishya and 11 Rajputs. Twenty-three of the 89 tickets have been given to Other Backward Castes candidates, which includes 7 Kurmis, 3 Yadavs, 2 each to representatives of Lodh Rajput, Nishad, Saini, while one each to Jat, Kamboj, Kushwaha, Lodhi, Pal, Prajapati and Shakya. Meanwhile, 18 tickets have been given to Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates, which include 9 Jatavs, two each Dobhi and Kori, while three tickets to Pasi community leaders, while one each to Shankhwar and Valmiki.