Rae Bareli: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi registered a gigantic victory in Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli winning by a significant lead of over 3.90 lakh votes, the highest winning margin in Uttar Pradesh.
Gandhi nearest rival, Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP, by over 3 lakh votes, showed Election Commission data at 3:15 pm. In contrast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi won by just over 1.5 lakh votes against his nearest rival, Congress' Ajay Rai, in Varanasi. Gandhi also won from Wayanad in Kerala polling 647445 votes and winning by a margin of 3,64,422 votes. His nearest rival Annie Raja of Communist Party of India polled 2,83,023 votes.
Earlier in the day, BJP's Rae Bareli candidate, Dinesh Pratap Singh conceded defeat to Gandhi. In a social media post, Singh sought "forgiveness from the people" of Raebareli and said that the "decision was not in our hands" despite party members working tirelessly to secure a victory in the Congress bastion.
The counting took place at 81 centres in 75 districts of the state. Rae Bareli has been a Congress bastion for several decades and thus the constituency is of national importance. The seat is currently represented by former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, wife of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
However, after Sonia Gandhi shifted to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan, the Congress gave a ticket to her son Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi is a three-time MP from Amethi and currently an MP from Wayanad.
2024 polls: The total number of registered voters in the Raebareli constituency in 2024 polls was 1784314 and the seat saw a voting turnout of 58.12% (1036997 votes polled), according to the Election Commission’s data released on May 25, 2024. The seat went to polls in phase 5 on May 20, 2024.
In the 2019 LS Polls, Sonia Gandhi of Congress won from Rae Bareli, polling 534188 votes comprising 55.80% of the total number of votes polled. Sonia Gandhi defeated BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh by a margin of 1,67,178 votes. Sonia Gandhi, who was also the chairperson of the UPA, had won from Raebareli in 2014 as well, getting 526434 votes (63.80%) and defeating BJP's Ajay Agawal, by a margin of 3,52,713 votes.
