Congress leader Rahul Gandhi files his Lok Sabha nomination papers from Rae Bareli on Friday, May 3.
LIVE: Rahul Gandhi files LS nomination from Rae Bareli
Rahul will be contesting against BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh while KL Sharma will lock horns with sitting MP Smriti Irani in Amethi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday (May 3) filed his nomination papers from the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat, a constituency held by his mother Sonia Gandhi for the last two decades.
He was accompanied by Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Rahul arrived at the Fursatganj airport earlier in the day. Local party workers turned up in large numbers at the collectorate where he filed his papers. Voting in the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat will be held on May 20.
Rahul is also contesting Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad constituency in Kerala.
Earlier, the Congress announced that Rahul Gandhi will contest from Rae Bareli while party leader Kishori Lal Sharma will run from Amethi, ending the suspense over its choice of candidates for the two Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha seats.
Rahul in 2019 lost the Gandhi family bastion of Amethi to BJP’s Smriti Irani. Irani has already filed her candidature from the seat.
The BJP on Thursday (May 3) announced Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from Rae Bareli. He had lost to Sonia in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Sources earlier said that the Congress has prepared the grandson of former Congress leader and Indira Gandhi's aunt Sheila Kaul as an alternative candidate for Amethi.
Pressure on Gandhis to run from 'bastions'
There was immense pressure on the Gandhi family by the Uttar Pradesh leadership of the Congress to contest both the seats.
The members of the Congress central election committee had also urged the party leadership to field both Rahul and Priyanka from these seats.
The Amethi seat has been represented by Rahul from 2004 and he remained MP from there for three consecutive terms till 2019. He currently represents Kerala's Wayanad constituency from where he has contested this time also.
The Rae Bareli constituency was represented by Sonia from 2004 to 2024 and is considered as the traditional pocket borough of the Gandhi-Nehru family.
Prior to this, Sonia had represented the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency after she entered politics and contested for the first time in 1999.
The seat has previously been represented by Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi.
The Congress has forged an alliance with Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh as part of the INDIA bloc and is contesting 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Polling for the general elections began on April 19. The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.
Live Updates
- 3 May 2024 12:23 PM IST
No Gandhi family contender in Amethi for first time in 25 years
Uttar Pradesh's Amethi has long been synonymous with the Gandhis and it would be the first time in 25 years that a Gandhi family member will not be contesting election from the Lok Sabha seat.
Considered a citadel of the Gandhi family since its creation as a constituency in 1967, Amethi has been represented by a Gandhi family member for about 31 years since then.
The Congress fortress was breached in the last general election in 2019 when BJP's Smriti Irani beat Rahul Gandhi by more than 55,000 votes.
This time, Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha election from the Rae Bareli seat, while Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat. Sharma was the key person who looked after the two prestigious constituencies on behalf of the Gandhis.
The last time a non-Gandhi was in the fray from the constituency was in 1998, when Satish Sharma, a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, contested the polls but lost to the BJP's Sanjaya Sinh.
Sonia Gandhi reclaimed the seat in 1999 routing Singh by over 3 lakh votes.
The Amethi and Rae Bareli seats will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth of the seven-phase general election.
(With inputs from agencies)
- 3 May 2024 11:59 AM IST
Rahul Gandhi is not the person to get scared: Sanjay Raut
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, speaking about Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s candidature from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat, said, “Rahul Gandhi is not the person who is going to get scared. He fights and wins from Wayanad, however, we all had that wish that someone from the Gandhi family should fight from Uttar Pradesh, whether it’s Amethi or Rae Bareli.
Anyone can win Amethi. KL Sharma is part of the Gandhi family. This time Smriti Irani is not going to Lok Sabha, but KL Sharma is.”
- 3 May 2024 11:35 AM IST
Rahul to file nomination papers shortly
#WATCH | Congress MP Rahul Gandhi arrives at a guest house in Raebareli.Rahul Gandhi will shortly file his nomination papers from Raebareli Lok Sabha seat. #LokSabhaElections2024 pic.twitter.com/t7xDTwVTah
— ANI (@ANI) May 3, 2024 - 3 May 2024 11:31 AM IST
Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi at the Fursatganj Airfield in Amethi. Photo: The Federal
- 3 May 2024 11:23 AM IST
#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra says "I am in a rush because I have to leave for Raebareli to attend the nomination filing of 'bhaiya' (Rahul Gandhi). Kishori Lal Sharma is going to contest from Amethi and you know him for 40 years. He is… pic.twitter.com/xU9spBqpyT
— ANI (@ANI) May 3, 2024
