Congress announced their first list of candidates for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha Polls. Congress has announced candidates for 16 seats in Kerala as part of its UDF alliance. Rahul Gandhi is set to contest from Wayanad again, amid speculations that the former Congress president could also take a shot to reclaim the Amethi seat.
Kerala‘s ruling party, CPI, had earlier announced senior leader Annie Raja as its candidate from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.
Communist Party of India (CPI) is a Congress ally in the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level, however, the parties are rivals of the Congress in Kerala.
However, with speculations that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is likely to make her poll debut with the Raebareli seat, which was vacated by her mother Sonia Gandhi after she moved to the Rajya Sabha, questions around Rahul Gandhi‘s candidacy has resurfaced.
Congress has also fielded sitting MPs KC Venugopal, Shashi Tharoor, and Anto Antony from Alappuzha, Thiruvananthapuram, and Pathanamthitta constituency respectively.
Why Wayanad assumes significance for Rahul Gandhi?
In 2019, Rahul Gandhi could save his Lok Sabha seat after he lost the Congress bastion Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani, was because he had won from Wayanad.
Rahul Gandhi had managed to bag a whopping 64.8% of the total vote share.
Wayanad and Congress
Kerala’s Wayanad constituency has historically remained a Congress bastion like Raebareli and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Congress has won Wayanad in the last three Lok Sabha elections by large margins.
During the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections, Congress dominated seven segments that make up the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. This win was cemented despite the LDF’s historic victory in the Assembly. Kerala which has earned a reputation of being anti-incumbent, voted the CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan’s party to the Kerala government for the second straight term.
According to available data, Congress bagged a combined vote share of 34.5%, defeating CPI(M) in Wayanad which got 25.6% of the total votes.
Further, late Congress leader M I Shanavas had won the Wayanad Assembly seat in 2014 and 2009. The 2021 Assembly polls Congress won three of the seven segments.
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Published: 08 Mar 2024, 06:53 PM IST