Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who won by huge margins from the Wayand and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats in the recently concluded Lok Sabha general elections 2024, said he is faced with a dilemma on which constituency he should retain. Indeed, it is Hobson’s choice for him. After securing a massive victory in both the seats, Rahul Gandhi now has to decide which seat he would retain. Not only Congress workers but even his political opponents are eagerly waiting for his answer to the key question — which seat will he forego? The suspense cannot last for a long time. If Rahul Gandhi fails to vacate any of the two seats, there is a provision for disqualification from both the seats.
Rahul Gandhi had won Wayanad by a margin of over 3.6 lakh votes and Rae Bareli by a margin of over 3.9 lakh votes. According to the Constitution, a person cannot hold the position of MP from two constituencies simultaneously. He has to vacate one of the two constituencies within 14 days after declaration of election results. Since he was elected on June 4, he will have to resign from any seat by June 18. As per the norms, Rahul Gandhi has to take a decision within a stipulated time period. The Election Commission will conduct a by-poll in the vacated seat within six months, to find a new MP.
Having won both seats, he now has to choose between Uttar Pradesh and Kerala. There is a feeling that Rahul Gandhi may choose to keep Rae Bareli as it will give the Congress party a strong foothold in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh which sends 80 MPs to Parliament. During a public rally in Rae Bareli on May 17, former party president Sonia Gandhi, who had held the Rae Bareli seat for the last 20 years, made an appeal to the voters in the constituency saying that she is handing over her son to them and said he would not disappoint him. This statement seemed to suggest that if Rahul Gandhi were to win from both the seats, he may prefer to retain Rae Bareli.
Since 1952, the Gandhis have been part of Rae Bareli’s political landscape. Feroze Gandhi won here in 1952 and 1957 and then Indira Gandhi served as the constituency’s MP from 1967 to 1977. She later returned to the constituency in 1980 after a brief hiatus. Sonia Gandhi consolidated the family’s grip on the constituency from 2004 onwards. Arun Nehru and Sheila Kaul, who belonged to the wider Gandhi family, have represented the seat too. Rae Bareli is the only Lok Sabha constituency the Congress won in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. Going by all indications, it is safe to predict that Rahul Gandhi may choose to stay with Rae Bareli.
