All India Mahila Congress President Alka Lamba said that Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress (GPMC) will go around in every block and try to field 50% women candidates for the Zilla Panchayat polls in December.
Lamba also said they are in the process of building Goa Mahila Congress and identifying 40 women leaders who could be fielded for the state assembly elections in 2027.She was speaking at a press conference held on Saturday. Dr Pratiksha Khalap, newly-appointed GPMC President was also present along with GPMC State General Secretary Liberata Madeira.
“We are having the zilla panchayat election in December and our party will have 33% reservation for women. For all seats reserved for women as well as general seats, we are getting ready with women who can contest, and you will see 50% of the total seats will be contested by women,” Lamba said.
“For the assembly 2027 in Goa, we are pressuring the Centre to implement the 33% reservation for women. We will identify 40 women leaders who can contest and win. We will ask women across the state who want to contest and we will propose their names to the party,” she said.
Lamba said the Mahila Congress is fighting across the country to implement the bill on 33% reservation for women.
“The BJP-led government at the Centre is against women. The bill has been passed, yet it has not been implemented. This is betrayal and injustice by the BJP government. As we have been protesting across the country on this issue, we plan to gherao the Goa Chief Minister as well as raise the issue outside the Goa assembly. We will force the government that the issue of women’s safety be discussed in the assembly. We will raise the issues of safety, equality and price rise for women,” she said.
Khalap said that 7,000 women members from Goa have been enrolled in the party’s ongoing membership drive that started in September last year and expressed confidence that more women will come forward.
“We will conduct block-level and booth-level meetings focussing on Mahila Congress. Our vision is to build the cadre of Mahila Congress,” she said.
Terming Goa’s law and order situation as “deplorable” which has collapsed, Khalap said, “Enough is enough. Every day we are seeing rapes, kidnapping,murders, violence against women. Where is the government and where is their support for women? When there are rapes and kidnapping happening, where is the BJP mahila morcha? Officials are not approachable, timely FIRs are not registered. We will demand 33% reservation for women in Goa. We want to take the concerns of women ahead and raise their issues against the government and will descend on the streets to protest,” she said. .
Lamba also said that the Mahila Congress is conducting a national-level leadership training programme on March 24, 25, and 26 in Delhi for 50,000 women party members and will also have a similar event in Goa.
