New Delhi: The Congress is excited over Priyanka Gandhi’s debut election from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala and said the presence of Gandhi siblings in the lower house of Parliament will boost the grand old party.
The Election Commission announced the by-poll on November 13 and the results will be declared on November 23.
Priyanka's brother Rahul Gandhi is the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and had relinquished his seat in Wayanad to retain Rae Bareli parliamentary seat in Uttar Pradesh.
The party had declared her candidature soon after the Lok Sabha poll results and had been waiting for the Election Commission to announce the by-poll that had to be completed within six months as per the rules.
“We are very excited over the poll dates being finalised. Priyanka Gandhi will win from Wayanad with a record margin of over 5 lakh votes. We all have been working for the by-poll over the past months including local campaign and voter registration,” Lok Sabha MP from Ernakulam Hibi Eden told ETV Bharat.
“Her presence in the Lok Sabha will be a big booster to the Congress. She will now focus on the development of Wayanad,” he said.
According to Eden, it hardly mattered that Priyanka Gandhi, who resembles her grandmother former prime minister Indira Gandhi and is considered to be a strategist, is making her electoral debut from a south Indian state.
“She is a national-level leader and what matters for us is the entire country. She has been managing the Rae Bareli and Amethi parliamentary seats for decades. She has been in charge of Uttar Pradesh and has campaigned across the country. So, she is not new to politics,” said Eden.
The Lok Sabha member further said that Priyanka’s presence in the Lok Sabha will be noted as she had a mind of her own and expressed herself regularly, be it for the good work done by the Congress-ruled state or the failures of BJP-run state.
According to former AICC secretary in-charge of Kerala P Vishwanathan, Priyanka’s presence as an MP from Kerala will also have an impact on the Congress-led UDF in the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections.
“Certainly, her presence will be a major booster for the UDF,” Vishwanathan told ETV Bharat.
According to AICC secretary in-charge of UP, Dheeraj Gurjar, Priyanka Gandhi is a born leader and has inspired party workers across the country.
“She guards the interests of the workers and takes care of them like an elder sister. I thank Rahul Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge for nominating Priyanka Gandhi as party candidate from Wayanad. We all had been waiting for this day for a long time. Her presence in the Lok Sabha will give a voice to the women across the country besides the poor and the downtrodden,” Gurjar, who had assisted Priyanka Gandhi in UP, told ETV Bharat.
“She is an excellent communicator and the party will benefit from her skills. She will remind the voters about Indira Gandhi. With Rahul Gandhi as Leader of the Opposition, the presence of Priyanka Gandhi would mean more trouble for the Modi government,” he added.
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