In what could be the biggest upset in this Lok Sabha election, Congress president Rahul Gandhi lost the Amethi constituency to Smriti Irani of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Admitting the defeat, Rahul, who could be a popular choice for the prime minister's post if the United Progressive alliance had won the polls, said he respected the people's mandate.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday evening, Rahul said: “People have clearly given their decision. I congratulate the PM and BJP.”
The Congress chief, however, secured a landslide victory in Kerala's Wayanad where he trounced the Left candidate by over four lakh votes.
As the counting of the polls is still on, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to retain power at the Centre with the National Democratic Alliance winning or leading in at least 340 seats.
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“Frankly, today is not the day to discuss what went wrong because people of India have clearly decided that Narendra Modi is going to be their prime minister and as an Indian I respect that,” Rahul said.
"I respect the decision and congratulate Smriti Irani ji," he further said.
Amethi has been a Congress bastion ever since UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi won the constituency in 1999 against BJP's Sanjay Singh. In 2004, Sonia switched over to nearby Rae Bareli to help Rahul take his political plunge in a 'safe' seat.
In 2014 elections, Rahul had defeated Irani in Amethi with a margin of more than one lakh votes despite a poor show of the Congress party elsewhere in the country. However, in 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, Congress failed to secure any of the five assembly seats under the Amethi Lok Sabha seat.
With the lose in Amethi, Rahul shared an ignominious distinction with his grandmother, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, and uncle Sanjay Gandhi. Both had lost from their respective constituencies in the 'anti-Indira' vote of 1977 in the backlash against the Emergency.