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Journalism of Courage
The new Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai on Friday (August 18) said former party president Rahul Gandhi would contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Amethi. Rahul lost the seat in the previous general election to BJP leader Smriti Irani, who won by a margin of 35,000 votes.
Amethi has been a Congress bastion since its formation in 1967. Barring the last four years, some in the 1970s and the late 1990s, the constituency has always voted either for the Nehru-Gandhi family or a loyalist. Here is a closer look at the decades-long relationship between Amethi and the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The Congress stalwart finally got a taste of victory in the 1980 Lok Sabha election, becoming the MP from the same seat. But his tenure was cut short as he died in a plane crash in 1981.
Sanjay’s death marked the entry of Rajiv Gandhi into active politics. On May 4, 1981, Indira Gandhi proposed her younger son’s name as a candidate from Amethi at a meeting of the All India Congress Committee. All the Congress members present at the meeting accepted the suggestion, leading Rajiv to file his candidature in Sultanpur.
Rajiv registered a thumping victory in the by-poll and won by a margin of more than 2 lakh votes against Lok Dal candidate Sharad Yadav. He took oath as MP from Amethi on August 17, 1981. Rajiv retained the seat for about a decade, winning in 1984, 1989, and 1991, till the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) assassinated him in 1991.
After his death, Congress’ Satish Sharma won the by-poll and got re-elected in 1996. He was thrown out of power two years later by BJP’s Sanjay Singh in the Lok Sabha election — the BJP swept 57 out of 85 Lok Sabha seats in UP at the time.
Amethi once again voted for a Nehru-Gandhi family member in 1999, when Rajiv’s widow Sonia Gandhi fought from the constituency. But she didn’t stand for re-election from the same seat. While Sonia shifted her candidature to Rai Bareli for the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi fought from Amethi.
Rahul won the seat in his first attempt and was re-elected in 2009 by a huge margin of 3.70 lakh votes. Although he again won in 2014, his opponent Smriti Irani gave him a tough fight. She finally defeated Rahul in 2019, becoming the second BJP leader to win Amethi in more than two decades. Reports suggested that Irani’s victory was the result of frequent visits to the constituency and consistent takedown of the Congress party since her 2014 loss.
The Congress party now hopes that Rahul will come back in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It’s particularly pinning expectation on the effect of the senior leader’s recent Bharat Jodo Yatra and the party’s victory in the Karnataka state Assembly election.
