Lok Sabha elections 2024: Elections are intriguing - especially when it is between members of the same family. In the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, it was Rajiv Gandhi vs his sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi from Amethi constituency — a Gandhi family bastion.
While Rajiv Gandhi contested on a Congress ticket, Maneka Gandhi was against the former Prime Minister as an independent. While Rajiv Gandhi received 3,65,041 votes with 83.67 per cent, Maneka received just 11.50 per cent vote share and garnered 50,163 votes.
Sanjay Gandhi was the first to contest elections from Amethi which he lost in 1977 following an anti-Emergency wave. It was also the first time that a Gandhi family member lost from this constituency. Interestingly, in 1980, for the first time, it was again Sanjay Gandhi, the first from the Nehru-Gandhi family, who won elections from Amethi. After his death, Rajiv Gandhi won the Lok Sabha elections from this seat three consecutive times - 1984, 1989 and 1991.
Third generation Gandhis
Rahul Gandhi, who was elected three times consecutively from the constituency in 2004, 2009 and 2014, lost in 2019 by over 55,000 votes. If Congress' local leaders and turncoats' opinions are to be taken into account, the apparent lack of interest of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in 2019 went in huge favour of BJP's Smriti Irani who wrestled the seat from the Gandhi family.
If reports are to be believed, this time too the chances of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to contest from Amethi and Rebareli is unlikely.
