Kishori Lal Sharma, a long-time loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family, from Amethi, the seat in Uttar Pradesh that Rahul Gandhi lost to Union Minister Smriti Irani in 2019. Rahul Gandhi, who contested from Wayanad in Kerala, has also been fielded from Raebareli, the seat that his mother Sonia Gandhi has been representing since 2004. For the first time in a quarter of a century, the Amethi seat will not see a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family in the electoral race.
The last instance of a non-Gandhi family member being fielded from Amethi was in 1998, when the Congress chose veteran leader Captain Satish Sharma for the seat. Sharma, however, lost to BJP's Sanjaya Sinh. Prior to that, Sharma had emerged victorious against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Raja Mohan Singh in the 1996 general elections.
Also Read: Meet Congress candidate KL Sharma who will be contesting against BJP's Smriti Irani from Amethi in Lok Sabha polls Amethi has been a stronghold of the Congress party for most of the time since its inception in 1967, with the exception of a few years in the 1970s and 1990s, and most notably in 2019 when BJP leader Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi. Congress leader Vidya Dhar Bajpai was the first member of parliament (MP) from Amethi in 1967. He won the elections again in 1971.
Amethi’s connection with the Nehru- Gandhi family can be traced back to 1977 when Sanjay Gandhi lost the election from the seat to Janata Party’s Ravindra Pratap Singh. Four members of the family – Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi – have been elected from the seat so far. Three years after losing from Amethi, Sanjay Gandhi st won the seat in 1980 defeated Janata Party's Ravindra Pratap Singh.
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