New Delhi: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has a healthy lead in Kerala’s Wayanad parliamentary seat, from where she is making her electoral debut in a bypoll, far ahead of the CPI’s Sathyan Mokeri and the BJP’s Navya Haridas.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Priyanka was leading with a margin of 2,72,926 votes as of 12 pm, ahead of Communist Party of India’s Mokeri with 1,40,169 votes and the BJP’s Haridas with 74,376 votes.
The bypoll holds significance since it could result in all three members of the Gandhi family—Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka—being in Parliament at the same time.
Priyanka’s comfortable lead from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, vacated by her brother Rahul Gandhi, was the only bright spot for the Congress Saturday after early trends showed that its alliance in the Maharashtra Assembly elections was being soundly beaten by the BJP-led combine while Jharkhand looked a tight fight.
The Congress invested heavily in the campaign for Priyanka’s poll debut, focusing on local issues such as agrarian distress and the rehabilitation of landslide victims.
On the eve of the results, Congress leader Sachin Pilot hoped for a “historic win” for Priyanka, adding that she was connected with party workers nationwide with years of political work behind her. “Rahul Gandhi as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha has taken on the government, forcing them to be more accountable, and Priyankaji joining the ranks will be tough days for the NDA,” he said.
Wayanad, which went to polls on 13 November, comprises the seven assembly segments of Mananthavady, Sulthan Bathery, and Kalpetta in Wayanad district; Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district; and Eranad, Nilambur, and Wandoor in Malappuram district.
The bypoll was necessitated in the hill constituency after Rahul Gandhi, who won the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in the general elections held earlier this year, vacated it as he decided to retain the Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh, which he also won.
With almost 14 lakh voters, this Lok Sabha segment saw a voter turnout of 64.24 percent, the lowest in Wayanad since 2009. In the Lok Sabha polls, it recorded a voter turnout of 72.92 percent. Rahul Gandhi won the seat by a margin of more than 3.5 lakhs votes.
This time, Priyanka’s team aimed for a victory margin of 5 lakh votes.
Priyanka Gandhi has been active in politics since 1999 when she started managing her mother Sonia Gandhi’s constituencies. She formally entered politics in 2019, and was made in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh. In her poll campaign in Wayanad, Priyanka was depicted as the next ‘iron woman’, just like her grandmother Indira Gandhi.
Her election to Parliament may also change power dynamics within the Congress party as a section in the party wants her to take a bigger role in the organisation. A functionary in Priyanka’s core team claims her election will be a boost for the party.
This is an updated version of the report
Also read: Medical infra woes & animal attacks. In left-behind Wayanad, residents wonder if Gandhis are answer
