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BANGALORE: Despite their poor show in the previous assembly elections, Congress is expected to field at least a dozen women candidates in the May 5 assembly polls in Karnataka.

Reason: The party sees a popular women sentiment in the country in the aftermath of the Delhi gang rape.

But the party's women aspirants remain unhappy. They want 28 seats in the total 224 assembly seats. "Sonia Gandhi had voiced support for women's causes and she is already pushing for women's reservation bill that will give 33 per cent reservation to us. So the party under her leadership should give at least 10% of tickets to women, said Mallajamma , KPCC general secretary and former MLC.

She was among the scores of women aspirants who staged a protest on Sunday on Akbar Road outside the party office in New Delhi demanding more tickets for women. "We have been getting a raw deal in the distribution of tickets in every assembly election. But this time they should reconsider because of popular sentiment across the country, said state Congress secretary Jalaja Naik.

But Congress is treading cautiously. In the 2008 election , 11 women contested on Congress ticket and none won. Buy Microsoft Office 2013 Download - Australia - Discount Software Store