This, despite Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee reiterating the BJP's commitment to women's reservation.

However, women will lead the election campaign for both the parties. Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj and Delhi Congress unit president Shiela Dikshit will be the torch-bearers of the fortnight-long campaign. Congress spokesperson and Mahila Congress president Ambika Soni said the party had given tickets to more women this time as compared to 1993, when seven women were nominated.

``We have tried our best to give them (women) more representation,'' she added. V K Malhotra, president of the Delhi BJP's election campaign committee, admitted the party had not given as much representation to women as it ought to. ``There are no two opinions about it. We should have nominated more women, butit simply did not work,'' he said.

Besides Dikshit, the Congress has nominated Kiran Walia (Hauz Khas), Anjali Rai (Paharganj), Tajdar Babbar (Minto Road), Krishna Tirath (Baljit Nagar), Kiran Singh (Model Town), Kiran Choudhury (Delhi Cantonment), Meera Bhardwaj (Mandawli), Sarla Kaushik (Shalimar Bagh) and Sushila Devi (Sultanpuri Majra).