International Desk

India’s opposition party Congress on Friday announced that Rahul Gandhi will contest a second Lok Sabha seat in the ongoing parliamentary elections--from Rae Bareli in the most populous state Uttar Pradesh.

Rahul, the 53-year-old scion of the Gandhi family, is the party’s candidate in the Wayanad constituency in Kerala where voting took place on April 26 in the second phase of the seven-phased polling which ends on June 1.

The formal announcement by Congress of Rahul’s candidature from Rae Bareli came on the morning of the last day of filing nominations in the constituency and brought to an end weeks of suspense over the issue.

Rae Bareli will vote in the fifth phase on May 20 and today (May 3) is the last date of filing nomination papers.

Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday declared Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from Rae Bareli. A minister of state in the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh headed by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Dinesh Pratap Singh lost to Sonia Gandhi in the previous Lok Sabha election in 2019.

Rae Bareli was the only Lok Sabha seat which Congress had won in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The seat has been with the Gandhi family since 1952 with Feroz Gandhi, husband of Indira Gandhi, emerging triumphant from there.

Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat had been represented by Sonia Gandhi for a long time before she Sonia opted out of electoral politics this year and has become a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper House of parliament.

In an emotional note to voters of Rae Bareli, Sonia had hinted at the possibility of a family member contesting from the seat.

In another decision, Congress also announced that Kishori Lal Sharma will be its nominee for Amethi where Rahul was defeated by BJP leader Smriti Irani by over 55,000 votes in the previous parliamentary poll five years ago.

Since Independence, Congress has lost Amethi and Rae Bareli only thrice. The party suffered defeat for the first time in Rae Bareli in 1977 when Indira Gandhi lost to Raj Narain in the elections post-Emergency (1975-1976). The party lost the seat again in 1996 and 1998 but has not been defeated there since then. in Amethi, Congress lost in 1977, 1998 and 2019.

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 defeated Rahul. This is the first time in quarter of a century that a member of the Gandhi clan would not be contesting parliamentary polls in Amethi.