Cakewalk for Sonia in Rae Bareli

The Congress President clinched the Lok Sabha seat by nearly four lakh votes.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday won the prestigious Rae Bareli Lok Sabha bypoll with a huge margin of over four lakh votes.

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At the end of counting of ballots in Rae Bareli, Gandhi polled 4,74,891 votes, defeating her nearest rival Samajwadi Party's Raj Kumar Chowdhury by a margin of 4,17,888 votes.

Chowdhury secured 57,003 votes while BJP's Vinay Katiyar was a distant third with 19,657 votes.

Besides Gandhi and Chowdhury, all other candidates including Katiyar lost their security deposits.

Total number of votes polled in the May 8 bypoll was 5,90,026.

After the results were declared a jubilant Rahul Gandhi, smeared with red 'gulal', reached the counting venue as party workers shouted slogan and danced with joy.

The Congress supporters who had gathered in Rae Bareli since morning showered flower petals and 'gulal' by the fistful on each other.