Today is the day for high-profile nominations in Uttar Pradesh. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from the high-profile Raebareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi held a mega road-show before the nomination. Senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, party President Mallikarjun Kharge, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Ashok Gehlot were part of the road-show along with thousands of party workers.
“Raebareli’s tryst with Congress continued once again where Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is trying to carry forward the legacy of his grandfather. The party has won the Congress bastion in all but three Lok Sabha elections since 1951. Sonia Gandhi has been winning this seat continuously since 2004. Before Sonia, former PM Indira Gandhi had won from Raebareli three times. The constituency also elected Indira’s husband and Congress leader Feroze Gandhi twice, in 1952 and 1957; while former PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s grandnephew Arun Nehru won from Raebareli in a 1980 bypoll and in 1984. In 1989 and 1991, Sheila Kaul, Jawaharlal Nehru’s sister-in-law, won from the seat. In 2004, Sonia shifted to the Rae Bareli constituency from Amethi to make way for her son Rahul Gandhi. Amethi is also witnessing a person from a non-Gandhi family as a Congress candidate after 2 decades. The last time a non-Gandhi was in the fray from the constituency was in 1998, when Satish Sharma, a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, contested the polls but lost to the BJP’s Sanjaya Singh.
BJP candidate from Raebareli Dinesh Pratap Singh and Congress Party candidate from Amethi Kishori Lal Sharma also filed their nominations today.
The only Trinamool Congress candidate in the state Lalitesh Pati Tripathi filed his nomination from the Bhadohi constituency today. On the other hand, the Samajwadi Party has announced the candidature of Bhagat Ram Mishra from Kaiserganj seat and Naresh Uttam Patel from Fatehpur. Today is the last day for nominations on both seats and the name was announced after BJP declared Karan Bhushan Singh son of Brij Bhushan Singh from Kaiserganj constituency yesterday.
