For the first time in the polls, Priyanka, the candidacy is the talk of the town

June 20, 2024 3:07 am

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is holding the Rae Bareli seat vacated by mother Sonia Gandhi after leaving Wayanad. His sister Priyanka Gandhi is standing in Wayanad. This decision was taken in the Congress meeting on Monday.

Which means Priyanka Gandhi finally lost the election. Priyanka Gandhi came into active politics five years ago, although she has been involved in campaigning for mother Sonia or brother Rahul for many years.

In January 2019, the Congress gave him the post of general secretary to oversee the party’s work in eastern Uttar Pradesh. That was the beginning of his active politics. But he never fought in the polls.

In this year’s Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi contested and won from two constituencies in Kerala’s Waynar and Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli.

According to the rules, he has to vacate any one of the seats. There was also much speculation as to which seat he would keep and which he would step down from.

Finally he decided to keep the Rae Bareli seat for himself.

On Monday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that Priyanka Gandhi is going to contest as a Congress candidate in the by-election from Waynar, another seat held by Rahul in the Lok Sabha elections.

After this decision, Rahul Gandhi told reporters that it is true that he is giving up the Wenar seat but that does not mean the end of the relationship. He will continue to go there. Similarly, Priyanka Gandhi is not severing ties with Rae Bareli.

Rather, Rahul Gandhi’s claim, Wenar and Rae Barili are going to get two MPs this time.

After a meeting with top Congress leaders held at Mallikarjun Kharg’s residence on Monday, the party decided that Priyanka Gandhi will contest the by-election from Wenara.

Incidentally, the results of the Indian Lok Sabha elections were announced on June 4. According to the ‘Representation of the People Act’, a candidate who has won more than one seat in an election has to vacate any seat within 14 days of the declaration of election results. According to that rule, Rahul Gandhi had to vacate one of the two seats he held.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had said that he is in doubt about which seat to keep and which to leave between Rae Barilly and Wenara.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced on Monday that Priyanka Gandhi will contest from Kerala’s Waynar constituency. He said that all of us in the Congress party have decided that Rahul Gandhi will be the MP from Rae Bareli constituency. He (Rahul Gandhi) also contested from Venard, got the love of the people there. So we have decided that Priyanka Gandhi will contest from Waynad.

Priyanka Gandhi said she will not let the residents of Waynar miss Rahul Gandhi.

In his words, I would be happy to represent Wanad. I will not let the people of Waynar feel the lack of Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi said, he will come to Wanada.

At the same time, Priyanka Gandhi has also promised to win the hearts of the people there. In his words, I too will work hard to keep everyone happy.

However, he assured that Rae Barili will not be forgotten. Mentioned his old relationship with there. While talking about that, the topic of Amethi also came up.

In his words, I have a very old relationship with Rae Barili. I have been working in Rae Barilly and Amethi for 20 years.

Many speculated that Priyanka Gandhi would be fielded in one of the two Lok Sabha seats held by Rahul Gandhi.

Veteran journalist Hemant Atri told BBC that this decision of Congress is not unexpected. This was part of their strategy from the beginning of this year’s Lok Sabha elections.

He said that Priyanka could have started her electoral politics from Amethi but she did not because the Congress party wanted to give a befitting reply to Smriti Irani. And that is why KL Sharma was chosen as the candidate for Amethi seat.

Explaining the matter, journalist Hemant Atri said, if Congress had fielded Priyanka in the (Lok Sabha) polls, then the party would have lacked an important star campaigner. And on the other hand, Priyanka also had to pay more attention to Amethi.

The Nehru-Gandhi family’s relationship with Rae Barili is very old. Rahul Gandhi’s grandfather Feroze Gandhi contested the 1952 Lok Sabha elections from this seat.

In 1967, Indira Gandhi was elected from the Rae Bareli constituency and reached the Parliament. Then in 1971 also he won the election by fighting from this seat. However, in 1975, his election was annulled by the order of the court.

In 1977, Indira Gandhi faced defeat in the elections held after 21 months of Emergency.

Then in 1980 he contested from Rae Barili in Uttar Pradesh and Medak in Andhra Pradesh (now part of Telangana). He won both seats.

At that time he left the Rae Barili seat. Arun Nehru of Congress contested the by-election from that seat and won the polls. Even in 1984, the seat was held by the Congress. Arun Nehru won the bypoll from Rae Bareli that year.

In the 1989 and 1991 elections, the Rae Bareli seat was held by Congress leader Sheela Kaul. After that, however, the rhythm fell. In 1996 and 1998 elections, BJP’s Ashok Singh won the Padma in this seat, known as ‘Congress’s Garh’.

However, in 1999, the seat of Rae Barili returned to the hands of the Congress. Congress leader Satish Sharma won this seat.

Sonia Gandhi was MP from this center for 20 years from 2004 to 2024. Rahul Gandhi was elected as the Congress Party candidate from the Rae Bareli constituency in the general elections of India this year and he won by nearly four lakh votes.