-year-old HIV-positive woman in Assam is all set for a plunge into politics by becoming the ruling Congress party candidate for next month's assembly elections.

Jahnabi Goswami is expected to be the party's candidate from the Barhampur assembly constituency in eastern Assam's Nagaon district, about 140 km from here.

Former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is the sitting legislator from Barhampur.

"I am contesting the elections on the Congress ticket and this would be a big challenge for me and the cause for which I am fighting to save people from getting infected with HIV," Goswami told IANS.

"I was requested by several senior Congress leaders to fight the elections saying that there is a need for people like me who can become future policy makers, especially in issues related to fighting the HIV-AIDS menace in the region," Goswami said.

The response in her hometown of Kampur in the Barhampur constituency was ecstatic once she accepted the offer of contesting the polls. The state goes to the polls to elect a 126-member legislature on April 3 and April 10.

"Men and women are thronging my home and the mood is already euphoric with people saying they would do whatever is required to help me win the polls," a jubilant Goswami said.

"I shall harp on health-related issues in my poll campaign to make pre-marital AIDS tests mandatory."

Goswami is one of the few women in India fighting to raise awareness of the disease and one of an even smaller number to have publicly declared that she is