Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson and former party president Sonia Gandhi will canvass in Kerala's Wayanad for her daughter and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi who is fighting her first electoral battle.
Priyanka Gandhi is fighting from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, where by-election was forced due to sitting MP Rahul Gandhi, who also won UP's Raebareli, vacating the seat to retain the family stronghold.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha seat goes to the polls on November 13 along with the Palakkad and Chelakkara Assembly seats. Votes will be counted on November 23.
State Congress leaders say Sonia Gandhi is returning to Kerala after many years, while Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi will join her for a roadshow scheduled for Tuesday.
In Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, Rahul Gandhi had emerged victorious by a margin of 3,64,422 votes over his nearest rival Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India. This is, however, a dip against his 2019 performance when he had clinched the seat with a record majority of 4,31,770 votes over P. P. Suneer of the CPI.
After Rahul Gandhi's resignation from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, the state Congress unit issued an invitation to Priyanka Gandhi to file nominations and declared her the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate for Wayanad.
The state Congress leaders expect Priyanka Gandhi to score a majority of more than five lakh votes for it in the UDF bastion of Wayanad.
For Priyanka Gandhi's election campaign, the Congress General Secretary, Organisation, K.C. Venugopal will coordinate as he is also the MP from the state's Alappuzha Lok Sabha seat.
Meanwhile, Indian Union Muslim League leader P. K. Basheer, MLA from Eranad-which falls in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency-was quoted to say before an election committee meeting that Congress workers in Wayanad were lethargic during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
He said Rahul Gandhi could not succeed in getting a big majority in Assembly constituencies led by Congress leaders, while in constituencies led by Muslim League leaders, he did well in securing a good lead.
He asked the Congress leaders to be positive in their respective constituencies and enhance the leads of Priyanka Gandhi so that this political novice acquires a record-winning margin.
The CPI has fielded senior leader and former MLA Sathyan Mokeri, who had expressed disappointment over Rahul Gandhi's absence for common voters, including tribals, after having won the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat both in 2019 and 2024.
He warned of a similar repeat situation in Wayanad if Priyanka Gandhi emerged victorious and asked the people to vote for him and help LDF emerge triumphant in the by-election in the Wayanad constituency.
The BJP has fielded Mahila Morcha State General Secretary, Navya Haridas, from Wayanad. State BJP President K Surendran had fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad.
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