Rae Bareli-- the only remaining stronghold of the Congress party and the Gandhi family in Uttar Pradesh -- will also go to polls in the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls on May 20. The constituency will see a fierce Congress versus Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) battle this time around.
While the Congress has played it safe by fielding Rahul Gandhi from the seat at the last minute, the BJP has gone the 'wounded lion' route by repeating Dinesh Pratap Singh's ticket from the seat. Notably, Rahul Gandhi chose to contest from Rae Bareli as a safe seat after the polling in Kerala's Wayanad got over.
The seat has been a Congress bastion since 1999 when Captain Satish Sharma won from the seat only to hand it over to Sonia Gandhi in 2004. Sonia Gandhi won from Rae Bareli for the first time in 2004 by a margin of more than 2.49 lakh votes.
In the 2009 general elections, she won with an even bigger margin of more than 3.52 lakh votes. She secured over 4.81 lakh votes whereas Bahujan Samaj Party's RS Kushwaha emerged a distant second with only 1.09 lakh votes. The former Congress national president managed to retain her tally in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
While Sonia Gandhi did win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli, her winning margins declined massively. Gandhi won the seat by merely a little over 1.5 lakh votes. Her opponent Dinesh Pratap Singh managed to make significant inroads as he secured over 3.67 lakh votes.
Why has Sonia Gandhi's winning margin reduced?
While commenting on the reduction in Sonia Gandhi's winning margins, BJP MLA from Raebareli Sadar Aditi Singh said in an exclusive conversation with news agency ANI that both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have been dismal in maintaining a connect with the constituency.
She added that the only time Gandhi family ever comes to Rae Bareli is when they have to file the nomination papers for elections. "In Rae Bareli also, Sonia Gandhi's margin has been decreasing, it's been diminishing election after election. Last election, it was 1 lakh something. It's just been dwindling down and Rahul Gandhi eventually just lost Amethi," Aditi Singh said.
Soon after Rahul Gandhi's candidature from Rae Bareli was announced, Dinesh Pratap Singh said that Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have betrayed the people of the constituency. He said that neither Priyanka Gandhi Vadra nor Sonia Gandhi have met the people of Rae Bareli for the last 10 years.