The Congress on Thursday released its second list of 41 candidates, including 16 women, for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The party had earlier released a list of 125 candidates, which included 50 women.

The grand-old party had earlier promised to allocate 40 percent seats to women candidates in the state, which is reflected in the second list.

Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases starting from February 10 and will end on March 7. The results will be out on March 10.

Ruling BJP also last week announced its first list of 107 candidates for the first two phases of the seven-phase election. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will contest from Gorakhpur (Urban) and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya from the Sirathu Assembly constituency.

Congress releases list of 41 candidates for the upcoming UP Assembly polls pic.twitter.com/w2IZUbIson

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 20, 2022

Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, has 403 assembly seats, the highest number among the states. The BJP had won 312 seats, Samajwadi Party, in alliance with the Congress, won 47 seats in the previous assembly elections in the state in 2017.

Akhilesh Yadav-led SP is gearing up to give a tough fight to the Adityanath-led BJP in the state.

Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa will vote on February 14, and Manipur will vote on February 27 and March 3. Counting of votes will be held on March 10 for all the states.

(Edited by : Bivekananda Biswas)