Amid speculation over Gandhi family members contesting from Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats, the Congress on Monday said party president Mallikarjun Kharge has been authorized to decide on the candidates. When asked about this, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinet told reporters, “There the Congress President has been authorized to decide who should be the candidate. Elections are not fought secretly. The elections will be fought with full pomp and show. As soon as the decision on the candidate is taken, you will be informed about it.
Who will contest elections in Rae Bareli and Amethi?
In the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting of the Congress held last Saturday, no decision could be taken regarding Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats and the decision was left to the party leadership. According to sources, Congress’ Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pandey and legislature party leader Aradhana Mishra had urged the leadership in that meeting that Rahul Gandhi should contest from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should contest from Rae Bareli, however, no decision was taken on this. . Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee and local Congress leaders of Amethi and Rae Bareli had recently urged the leadership that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi should contest elections from these seats.
Sonia Gandhi will not contest elections from Rae Bareli
Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi decided not to contest elections from Rae Bareli this time and has been elected to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. He represented Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency for two decades. Rahul Gandhi was a Lok Sabha member from Amethi from 2004 to 2019. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he had to face defeat from Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and Union Minister Smriti Irani. Recently, during a press conference in Ghaziabad, when Rahul Gandhi was asked about contesting elections from Amethi, he said that this decision will be taken in the meeting of the Central Election Committee of the party and whatever order is given by the party, he will follow it. Rahul Gandhi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad in Kerala where voting ended on Friday.