The Congress on Tuesday officially announced Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as its candidate for the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, hours after the Election Commission announced the schedule.
Wayanad, vacated by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he was elected to Lok Sabha from Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, will go to polls on November 13, along with the first phase of the Jharkhand Assembly elections. Bypolls to 47 assembly seats across 15 states will also be held on the same date.
"Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the proposal to nominate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as party candidate for the Lok Sabha bye-election from Kerala," the party said in an official release on Tuesday evening.
The Congress also announced Rahul Mamkootathil from Palakkad and Ramya Haridas from Chelakkara assembly constituency for the assembly bypolls in Kerala.
In June, after the Lok Sabha election results were announced, Kharge had said Rahul would retain Raebareli—a traditional seat of the Gandhi family—and vacate Wayanad where the party would field Priyanka Gandhi.
If elected, it will be the first time Priyanka Gandhi is entering the Lok Sabha as an MP. She will also be the third MP from the Gandhi family in the current parliament. Rahul Gandhi is the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha while Sonia Gandhi is a member Rajya Sabha.
Before entering to active politics, Priyanka Gandhi had concentrated her work in the family strongholds of Amethi and Raebareli. However, eventually, she emerged as the party's strategist and star campaigner, helping the Congress make impressive gains in some states as well as in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier in the year.
"I am not nervous at all.... I am very happy to be able to represent Wayanad. All I will say is that I will not let them feel his (Rahul Gandhi's) absence. I will work hard and try my best to make everybody happy and be a good representative,” she said in June after party informally announced her candidature.
Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal exuded confidence that Priyanka Gandhi will win Wayanad constituency with record majority. "We are confident of winning both the Assembly elections and the by-elections being held across the country,” he said.
The Election Commission has announced that polling in Jharkhand will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20 while elections to Maharashtra Assembly will take place in a single phase on November 20. The votes will be counted on November 23.
