New Delhi: Amid speculation that former Congress chief and MP Rahul Gandhi may return to contest from Amethi, party officials said that the Central Election Committee (CEC) chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge is set to meet on Saturday to discuss the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli and the remaining five seats in Punjab.
The Amethi and Rae Bareli seats were previously held by Rahul and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, respectively. The Congress has so far announced candidates for 317 Lok Sabha seats.
With polling in Wayanad from where Rahul is contesting got over on Friday, party leaders said a detailed discussion on Rae Bareli and Amethi is expected to be taken up.
Also Read: Lok Sabha elections: Congress’ silence on Rae Bareli, Amethi sparks buzz
Rahul has time and again maintained that whatever the party will ask him (about contesting from Amethi or Rae Bareli) he would do it.
A section of Congress party leaders have maintained that Rahul may contest either from Amethi or Rae Bareli. The Rae Bareli seat was vacated by Sonia Gandhi after she shifted to the Rajya Sabha earlier this year.
The Congress has so far announced eight seats from Punjab. The CEC, which will meet at 8pm on Saturday, is expected to discuss the remaining five seats.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress has so far announced eight seats from Punjab. The CEC, which will meet at 8pm on Saturday, is expected to discuss the remaining five seats.
{{/usCountry}}The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already announced its minister and MP Smriti Irani as a candidate for Amethi. Rahul lost to Irani in 2019 and the expectation among local Congress workers is that his candidature will be announced again.
It is believed that Rahul’s candidature from the Kerala constituency boosted Congress’s prospects in 2019, helping the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) to win 19 of the state’s 20 Lok Sabha seats. Analysts say the party may not want to change this in any way by announcing his candidature from Amethi.
However, the delay has triggered speculation about whether Rahul will contest Amethi. Earlier this week, posters came up in Amethi Robert Vadra, Rahul’s brother-in-law, to be given a chance this time from the constituency.
Meanwhile, local Congress leaders expect Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to be fielded from Rae Bareli.
The Congress party’s leaders are of the view that the Gandhis should contest from Uttar Pradesh to retain their several-decades-old connection with the state, even though the party seems to have slipped into a moribund state.
As of now, while Irani is all geared up to take on Rahul in case he decides to contest from his home seat, there is speculation about the party high command wanting Priyanka’s cousin Varun Gandhi to contest against her in Rae Bareli.
Since 1980, barring 1998, the Gandhi family or their nominees have won 11 elections in Amethi. All the more interesting is their family connection with Rae Bareli. Feroze Gandhi, Indira Gandhi’s husband, had contested the first election in 1952 and again in 1957.
The 1960 and 1962 elections were won by Congress but not by the family. Thereafter, barring 1977, 1996, and 1998, all elections were won by the Congress in general and family and friends in particular – Arun Nehru, Shiela Kaul, and Satish Sharma preserved the seat for them as and when needed; Sonia Gandhi won her first election from the seat in 2004.