In Kerala, Congress buoyed by Priyanka’s Wayanad debut despite dip in Rahul votes

While most Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) candidates saw their winning margins increase sharply compared to the 2019 polls, Wayanad remained an exception despite having Rahul as the candidate. Rahul’s winning margin fell from 4.31 lakh in 2019 to 3.64 lakh in 2024, even as some UDF candidates doubled their margins. Rahul’s vote share dipped to 59.69% this time from 64.64% in 2019.

“There was an impression in the party leadership that with Rahul as the candidate, people would flow spontaneously to the booths to cast their votes in favour of the Congress. We had several star campaigners from the national level. Many leaders did not work despite the party pumping enough money,” a Congress leader said. “In Wayanad, we could not cash in on the anti-incumbency factor to the full extent due to the organisational weaknesses. Voting was not on the expected lines in many party strongholds in the constituency . Otherwise, the margin of Rahul would not have come down. By raising a hype over Priyanka’s candidature, the party in Wayanad is trying to shield its organisational issues.’’

Of the seven Assembly segments under the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, Rahul’s votes came down sharply in its Assembly segments of Kalpetta, Mananthavady and Sulthan Bathery. The votes polled for Rahul in these three Assembly segments declined. Compared to the margin in the 2019 elections, Rahul won the seat this time by 67,328 fewer votes. Of this, a loss of 56,491 votes was reported from the three Assembly segments, two of which are held by the Congress MLAs.

At the same time, Rahul’s vote share and margin increased in the Ernand Assembly segment under the Malappuram district, where Congress ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has a strong presence. However, in Malappuram’s Vandoor and Nilambur Assembly segments, Rahul’s margin fell from the 2019 levels.

Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly and Congress MLA, V D Satheesan, said the state has “already received Priyanka in their hearts”. “Rahul took a decision that is acceptable for people of both Rae Bareli and Wayanad. She will get elected from Wayanad with a thumping majority,” he said. Priyanka is familiar to the voters of Wayanad – in Rahul’s 2019 and 2024 campaigns, she had joined him at rallies and road shows in the constituency.

The IUML’s state unit president Panakkad Sadique Ali Shihab Thangal said the party had urged the Congress leadership to field Priyanka in the event of Rahul vacating the seat. “This is a decision that will strengthen the INDIA bloc and UDF in Kerala. This will ensure the future of secularism. It is inevitable to have Priyanka in the Lok Sabha. It is the people’s desire that she should contest from Wayanad,’’ he said.

Binoy Viswam, state secretary of the CPI whose national leader Annie Raja had contested against Rahul, said, “By quitting Wayanad, Rahul has betrayed his electorate. The CPI and Left Democratic Front (LDF) will take a collective decision on the candidate against Priyanka. The LDF will give a strong fight against the UDF in Wayanad. The Congress should not have enacted this drama and the party is yet to imbibe the politics of the INDIA bloc,” he said.

State BJP president K Surendran, who also contested from the seat, said sarcastically that the people of Wayanad have understood the meaning of Rahul’s claim that “Wayanad is his family”. “What Rahul meant was that his sister will contest from the seat. I hope Congress will bring in Rahul’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra as the party candidate in the Palakkad Assembly seat, where a by-election will take place. Such a decision will fully satisfy the Congress in Kerala,” he said.