Priyanka Gandhi joined her brother Rahul Gandhi and Mother Sonia Gandhi as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha today. After decades, there will be three members of the Nehru-Gandhi family— Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka in the Indian Parliament, with Rahul Gandhi also holding the position of the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Parliament.
This is Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s parliamentary debut as a MP. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reached Parliament with her mother, while her MP brother Rahul Gandhi and husband Robert Vadra were also Parliament to for her oath-taking.
Priyanka Gandhi won the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat with a margin of 4,10,931 votes in the recently concluded round of bypolls, which took place alongside Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections 2024.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was vacated by Priyanka Gandhi’s brother, Rahul Gandhi, who had won from there in the Lok Sabha elections this year but had also secured the family bastion Rae Bareli constituency. Rahul Gandhi’s decision to resign from the Wayanad seat and retain the Rae Bareli constituency after winning the two seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in April necessitated the Wayanad bypoll.
Wayanad, a Congress stronghold, witnessed a triangular contest among Priyanka Gandhi, BJP’s Navya Haridas, and Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Sathyan Mokeri.
Priyanka Gandhi’s electoral debut
Priyanka Gandhi contested the Wayanad seat as a candidate of the United Democratic Front (UDF).
Congress leader Ravindra Vasantrao Chavan won with 5,86,788 votes the bypoll in Nanded Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant following the death of the sitting party MP, Vasantrao Balwantrao Chavan.
The Wayanad win marks the electoral debut of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who will now be sitting in Lok Sabha along with her brother Rahul Gandhi. Their mother, Sonia Gandhi, is a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan.
Due to a low voter turnout, Priyanka Gandhi received 6,22,338 votes, less than Rahu Gandhi’s tally of 647,445 votes during the April Lok Sabha election in the constituency. However, her margin of 410,931 votes surpassed his lead of 364,422 votes, making her maiden victory extra special.
