Youngest Congress candidate confident about her winning

Youngest Congress candidate from Kerala's Kayamkulam, Aritha Babu on Wednesday said that is confident that she will win in the state Assembly polls.

Congress has fielded 26-year-old Aritha from her native of Kayamkulam in the Alappuzha district of Kerala.

"Congress gave me the opportunity at the age of 21. They elected me as a district Panchayat member and now they gave me the opportunity at the age of 26 as a legislative assembly candidate and 100 per cent I am going to win because this is my constituency, my people. They will accept me as a candidate and as a daughter," said Aritha.

"The employment rate is low in Kerala. People are not interested in the field of politics they are training to enter the PSC but the government is not issuing proper announcement for this now they have to do. We have to do much more for women empowerment," she added.

The United Democratic Front (UDF), of which Congress is a part has promised that if elected to power it will enact a law that guarantees employment rights of candidates who are selected by the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Meanwhile, Aritha is stealing the limelight now with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi who stepped into her small house at Kayamkulam was made to wait as the 26-year-old candidate was busy with her campaigning on Tuesday. Later Priyanka did a roadshow with Aritha.

She is up against the sitting MLA Pratiba Hari of the CPI (M) and NDA's Pradeep Lal. Pratiba Hari had defeated Congress candidate N Liju by over 11,000 votes at Kayamkulam in the last Assembly polls.

While announcing the names of the Congress candidates who will be contesting in the 2021 Kerala Assembly election, the party's Kerala chief Mullappally Ramachandran took a few moments to specially introduce Aritha. "She is the youngest candidate of the Congress," said Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Mullappally at the press conference in New Delhi earlier.

A graduate in commerce and now pursuing her postgraduate in social work, Athira hails from an economically marginalised family. She rears cows and sells their milk to support her family. She made her entry to politics through Kerala Students Union and was earlier elected to the Alappuzha district panchayat.

( With inputs from ANI )