Congress leader Rahul Gandhi submitted his nomination papers on Friday for the Raebareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. On May 20, the constituency will cast votes in the general elections’ fifth phase.
Mother Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra by his side, Mr. Gandhi was also accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi’s husband, Robert Vadra, and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge when he turned in the paperwork at the district magistrate’s office.
The Congress leadership unveiled their nominees for the two prominent constituencies of Raebareli and Amethi early this morning. The Congress chose Kishori Lal Sharma to fill the seat, ending rumours that Mr. Gandhi may run from Amethi, a seat he has held three times in the Lok Sabha.
Rae Bareli is regarded as one of the Congress’s most secure seats. The Congress has won 17 of the 20 elections it has seen thus far. But history also has a peculiar feature for this seat: Raebareli is the one from whom a prime minister in office has lost an election. This was the moment that Raj Narain of the Janata Party beat Indira Gandhi in the 1977 elections following the Emergency. Feroze Gandhi, the husband of Indira Gandhi, and Mr. Gandhi’s grandfather have previously held the seat.
Sonia Gandhi has been elected to the seat for the last 20 years. The Congress held this seat in spite of the BJP’s surge of popularity in 2014 and 2019. Now that she has relocated to the Rajya Sabha, Mrs. Gandhi has given up her son’s prestigious position. Mr. Gandhi faces off against Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP, who came in second in the 2019 election, in Raebareli.
Congress’s choice of Amethi Mr. Sharma has served as an MP’s representative in the two constituencies for a considerable amount of time and is a devoted follower of the Gandhi family. Leaders in Congress claim he is a grassroots guy and they anticipate this will help him win.
In the 2019 election, Rahul Gandhi was defeated by Union Minister Smriti Irani, who Mr. Sharma is facing. Because the BJP announced Ms. Irani’s candidacy early, she has had an advantage over other candidates. She has been camping out in the constituency for some time.
Similar to Rae Bareli, Amethi has also served as a stronghold for the Gandhi family for many years, with four members of the family representing it thus far: Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi.
