synopsis

Congress has picked Rahul Gandhi from Raebareli and Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi after the party released its candidates' list from the constituencies on Friday.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will contest from Raebareli, a seat represented by his mother Sonia Gandhi for four terms until she was elected to Rajya Sabha this year. The party fielded Kishori Lal Sharma against Union Minister Smriti Irani in Amethi, where the Gandhi scion was defeated in the 2019 elections.

The Congress decision was announced on Friday after weeks of suspense. Friday is the deadline for filing nominations for both seats in the fifth round of the seven-phase general election, which will take place on May 20.

The move follows days of intense speculation and fierce debate about whether members of the Gandhi family will run for these two seats in Congress.  Rahul Gandhi, who is running for re-election in Kerala's Wayanad, will face BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh in Raebareli. Singh lost against Sonia Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

In 2019, Rahul, the incumbent MP from Amethi back then, lost the seat to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Smriti Irani. He, however, got elected to Parliament from Kerala’s Wayanad, a seat that he is contesting this time as well. Amethi was once considered a Congress bastion.

 

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