‘Plenty of time to discuss candidate’: CPI's Annie Raja on contesting Wayanad by-poll

The seat fell vacant after Rahul Gandhi decided to keep the Rae Bareli seat. Annie Raja was the runner-up from Wayanad in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

Updated on: Jun 18, 2024, 10:46:25 IST

By HT News Desk, New Delhi

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Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Annie Raja, who was the runner-up to Rahul Gandhi from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in the recently-held general elections, said on Monday that there was ‘plenty of time’ to decide who would be the candidate from Kerala's ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), of which CPI is a member, for the upcoming Wayanad by-election.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi to retain Raebareli seat, Priyanka Gandhi to contest from Wayanad

“Rahul Gandhi and Congress have decided and announced that they will retain Rae Bareli and leave Wayanad. Whether I will contest or not again, will be my party's decision. Elections have not been announced so far…so we have plenty of time to discuss the candidate in the party and among the LDF,” Raja told news agency ANI.

On the grand old party's decision to nominate Rahul Gandhi's sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for the Wayanad by-poll – it will be her electoral debut – Raja asserted that the Parliament must have ‘more and more’ women representatives.

Also Read: Why Rahul Gandhi kept Raebareli, and not Wayanad. Congress president explains

“I am happy that the UDF has announced a female candidate for the constituency,” she stated. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is Kerala's principal opposition alliance.

Rahul Gandhi, who first won the Wayanad seat in the previous 2019 national polls, retained it by winning 647,445 votes, while CPI's Raja came second with 283,023 votes, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI). K Surendran, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Kerala unit president, was third with 141,045 votes.

In Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli, the ex-Congress chief bagged 687,649 votes, while Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP secured 297,619 votes. Thakur Prasad Yadav of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was third with 21,624 votes.

Also Read: BJP labels Congress as 'family business' after Priyanka Gandhi's Wayanad move

As per the Election Commission's rule, an individual can stand from maximum two seats. However, if they win both, they must keep one and vacate the other.

The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha is scheduled to commence on June 24.

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