Raebareli Lok Sabha: Suspense ends, Rahul Gandhi to contest Lok Sabha elections from Raebareli, Congress loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi

Rahul Gandhi will run against BJP candidate Dinesh Singh in Raebareli for the Lok Sabha, while Kishori Lal Sharma will face Union minister Smriti Irani in Amethi.

 

After several anxious days, the Congress finally declared on Friday that Rahul Gandhi will run for the Lok Sabha seat from Raebareli and Congress supporter Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi, two of the party’s strongholds in Uttar Pradesh.

Raebareli Lok Sabha:

 

The declaration was issued by the Congress early on Friday, the deadline for submitting nomination documents for both seats. On May 20, both constituencies will cast ballots.

 

Rahul has been assigned the task of running for Raebareli, his mother’s seat, after losing the Lok Sabha election in 2019 from Amethi. Dinesh Singh of the BJP lost to Sonia by 1.67 lakh votes in 2019. Singh, an MLC and minister in the UP government, has been nominated by the BJP this time as well.

 

 

Sonia faced stiff opposition in 2019 from the three-term MLC, who helped to narrow her margin of victory from 3.52 lakh votes in 2014 to 1.67 lakh. Raebareli winner Sonia moved to the Rajya Sabha and is not running this time. She won Raebareli in 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019.

Raebareli Lok Sabha:

 

Sharma is one of the Gandhi supporters in Amethi and Raebareli who has held positions in the Youth Congress and other party organizations.

For forty years, he has led the Congress actively. According to a Congress leader, he is one of the friendliest and most approachable party leaders in Raebareli and Amethi.

Sharma was also designated by Sonia Gandhi as the party’s representative for the two seats.

Rahul will face Dinesh Singh

Rahul will face Dinesh Singh, who was appointed to the Upper House in Uttar Pradesh by the BJP, since he also runs from Wayanad in Kerala.

He was appointed a minister of state (independent charge) for horticulture, agriculture marketing, farm foreign trade, and agriculture export when the Yogi Adityanath-led government came back to power in 2022. These portfolios are still with him.

Union minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Rahul in 2019 by 55,120 votes, has been nominated by the BJP for Amethi. Irani had lost the 2014 election by more than a lakh votes, but the BJP’s expectations were raised by Rahul’s narrower victory margin.