Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday appeared in his former constituency Wayanad in Kerala to support his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s candidature on the last day of campaigning ahead of the bypoll on Wednesday.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during a roadshow in Thiruvambady, Wayanad, on Monday. (ANI)
The Wayanad poll, necessitated after Rahul Gandhi vacated the seat to retain his second seat of Rae Bareili in Uttar Pradesh, will pit Priyanka against Sathyan Mokeri of the CPI and Navya Haridas of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While Mokeri is a three-time former MLA who unsuccessfully bid from Wayanad in 2014, Haridas is a two-time councilor of the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation.
On Monday, the Gandhi siblings took part in two major roadshows in Sulthan Bathery and Thiruvambady assembly segments in which thousands of supporters of the Congress-led UDF participated, raising slogans and banners.
Rahul Gandhi, standing atop a campaign vehicle, told party workers and voters that his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, has participated in election campaigns for him, their father and their mother since 1989. Yet she has never been an MP, he said. .
“Most people campaign a few times and say they want to become an MP. So I am confident that she will understand you and work with you in resolving some of your key demands such as a new medical college, repealing the night traffic ban (to Karnataka) and reducing human-animal conflict . I have already said that Wayanad will be the only constituency in India with two MPs: one unofficial and one official. You will see us jointly raising the issues of Wayanad in Parliament,” Rahul Gandhi said.
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In her final campaign speech in Sultan Bathery town, Priyanka Gandhi said it would be her “greatest honour” to represent the people of Wayanad constituency in Parliament.
“You have received me with so much love and affection in your homes and on the streets. I am deeply grateful for that. Every morning I start early and end the day very late, but I have never felt tired because of the love you have given me,” the Congress General Secretary said.
Priyanka Gandhi said she will work “as hard as my brother Rahul” did to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the voters. “If you give me a chance to repay the love you have given me, to stand shoulder to shoulder with you, Rahul will tell you that I am the best fighter you have,” she said.
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Priyanka Gandhi’s rival and CPI candidate Mokeri said victory was assured for him in Wayanad. “I was able to complete three rounds in this constituency. We have received good responses from voters. People voted for Rahul Gandhi last time but did not get the best results. Many neutral voices that drifted away from us in the last two elections will come back to us this time,” he said.
At the same time, BJP candidate Haridas said the achievements of the Narendra Modi government in the last decade will work in its favor.
“We have a lot of confidence in it. We see tremendous support at our public meetings. On the other hand, the Congress was caught distributing food parcels with photos of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. These kits came from other states. The party will have to answer questions about such allegations to the voters,” she said.
The Wayanad parliamentary constituency, which was created in 2009 after delimitation, has since been won by the Congress in the last four elections. MI Shanavas represented the seat from 2009 to 2019. Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 victory margin in Wayanad of 431,000 votes was the highest in the constituency and saw him elected to the Lok Sabha when he simultaneously faced defeat in Amethi. In 2024, Rahul Gandhi’s margin of victory stood at 360,000 votes. The constituency consists of three assembly segments in Wayanad district, three in Malappuram and one in Kozhikode district. Minorities represent more than 50% of the electorate.
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The campaign ends in Chelakkara’s assembly seat
The campaign for the bypoll for the Chelakkara assembly seat in Thrissur district also came to an end on Monday evening. Supporters of UDF, LDF and NDA gathered in large numbers in the middle of Chelakkara town for the ‘kalashakottu’ – a show of strength – in the evening, waving flags, banners and dancing to music.
The bypoll was necessitated after the then CPM MLA and temple affairs minister K Radhakrishnan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Alathur this year. The constituency is an LDF stronghold and has had CPM MLAs only since 1996.
While the Left has fielded former MLA UR Pradeep, the Congress nominated former MP Ramya Haridas and the BJP K Balakrishnan. In the 2021 parliamentary elections, the CPM had won by a margin of 39,400 votes. The UDF then had a vote share of 28.71% and the BJP 15.68%.
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