Wayanad: Amid reports suggesting that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who won both Wayanad and Rae Bareli seats in the just concluded Lok Sabha election, may retain Rae Bareli and vacate Wayanad constituency, Congress leaders from Kerala are not sure what is in his mind. Still they are preparing for a bye election from the hill constituency, by keeping ready booth level voters list and necessary documents.
A senior congress leader and newly elected MP from Malabar told ETV Bharat that there is “every chance of Rahul Gandhi retaining Wayanad seat”. He pointed out that during his election campaigns at Wayanad Rahul Gandhi repeated several times that he will not abandon the constituency."He has an emotional attachment also to Wayanad. Voters of Wayanad irrespective of party line stood with Rahul during his first contest in 2019. It was also a crucial moment of his political career. Still Wayanad gave him a majority of 431770 lakh votes. Though the voting percentage decreased by over 6 percentage this time Rahul managed to get a vote margin of 364422 against his nearest rival CPI 's Anie Raja," the Congress leader said.
Another congress leader on condition of anonymity told ETV Bharat that the party is expecting a bye election in Wayanad soon. "But the candidate will be from Gandhi family only. If Rahul is vacating Wayanad Kerala is preferring Priyanka instead. But AICC alone can take the final decision after knowing about Rahul's decision. If Priyanka is fielded as the candidate for Wayanad bye election it will be easy for the party workers here to obtain more than 4 lakh votes majority. We already instructed booth committees and block presidents to keep the voters lists and all necessary documents for elections," he said.
Rae Bareli has been a bastion of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Sonia defeated BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh with a margin of over 1.67 lakh votes. Rahul doubled the margin against the same candidate who is also minister in Yogi cabinet winning by 390030 votes in Rae Bareli. The acceptance of the congress leader in Hindi heartland has led to some leaders believe Rahul may retain Rae Bareli only.
If Priyanka decides to contest on a seat vacated by Rahul Gandhi, it will be her debut in election politics.
Already two sitting MLA s elected to the lower house of Indian parliament from Kerala, necessitated by elections in the state. Palakkad MLA Shafi Parambil was elected to Lok Sabha from Vadakara constituency and minister K. Radhakrishnan represents Chelakkara assembly segment was elected from Alathur Lok Sabha seat.
