With family behind her, Priyanka Gandhi files nomination for Wayanad bypoll after mega roadshow

Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra and son Rehan stayed outside the collector’s chamber.

Earlier, in a show of strength, thousands of party workers from Wayanad and nearby Kozhikode and Malappuram districts took part in the roadshow at Kalpetta. Priyanka was accompanied by Rahul, Congress state president K Sudhakaran and Indian Union Muslim League state president Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal in an open vehicle.

Abdurrahman, a daily worker from Nilambur in Malappuram, said he had no doubts that Priyanka would win. “CPI(M)says this election is foisted upon voters. Bye-elections happen in many places. CPI(M) had fielded their minister K Radhakrishnan in the Lok Sabha election and now there is a bye-election at his Assembly constituency, Chelakkara. So, such campaigns will not work,” Abdurrahman, an IUML worker, said.

Abbas, who runs a restaurant at Pulpally in Wayanad and came to take part in the roadshow, also said that nobody doubts that Priyanka will win.

While Sonia and Priyanka reached Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad on Tuesday night via road from Mysuru, Rahul travelled via flight from Delhi to Kannur on Wednesday.

After a Congress roadshow in 2019 had drawn criticism from the BJP over the green flags held by IUML party workers, this time, there were fewer flags as party workers held placards with Priyanka’s photo and green and tricolour balloons.

The Wayanad by-election was necessitated after Rahul Gandhi, who has been representing the seat since 2019, vacated it to retain Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh after he won both seats in the April 2024 elections. The bypoll will be held on November 13 and Priyanka will face veteran CPI leader Sathyan Mokeri and Kozhikode municipal councillor Navya Haridas of the BJP.

The Congress, which is confident about winning the seat, is focusing on increasing Priyanka’s majority. In a bid to win over voters, the party is projecting Priyanka as a UDF candidate and as ‘Wayanadinte Priyankari (the darling of Wayanad)’ in its election campaign material.

This is the first time that Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka are campaigning together for any election in Kerala. Sonia’s previous election campaign in Kerala was in April 2016, ahead of the state Assembly elections. Rahul has been representing Wayanad since 2019 but Sonia had not campaigned for him.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Sonia Gandhi during the nomination rally. (Photo: PTI)

In the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, when the victory margin of most UDF candidates in the state had increased sharply compared to 2019, Rahul’s margin had come down from 4.31 lakh in 2019 to 3.64 lakh. This time, the party has given MPs and MLAs charge of various Assembly constituencies in Wayanad Lok Sabha seat to ensure there is no complacency. Several senior leaders are also camping in Wayanad to ensure maximum voter turnout.

The bypoll is being held at a time when Wayanad is yet to recover from the devastating landslides of July 30 that killed 251 people and left 47 missing. The relief measures will be one of the themes in Wayanad as both Congress and LDF are critical of the reluctance of the BJP-led Centre to declare a package for the affected villages.