The Indian National Congress announced today that Rahul Gandhi will be contesting for the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh while Kishori Lal Sharma will be contesting for the Amethi seat also in Uttar Pradesh.

This announcement comes after much speculations that Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra might be given tickets to the two Parliamentary Constituencies. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has not contested in any elections.

Raebareli seat is close to the Congress and the Gandhi family as Feroze Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi have all won from here. The Congress have won 17 times from this PC. Sonia Gandhi was the sitting MP until last month when she opted out and took oath as a member of Rajya Sabha.

Rahul Gandhi will be contesting Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP and Thakur Prasad Yadav of BSP for the seat. He is also in the fray from Wayanad, Kerala.

In Amethi, which Rahul Gandhi lost in 2019 to Smriti Irani of BJP, the Congress have decided to give ticket to Kishori Lal Sharma.

Sharma is said to be a close aide of the Gandhi family who represented them in Amethi and Raebareli in their absence.

The candidates will file their nomination today, the last date for nomination. Polling for both Raebareli and Amethi is on 20th May 2024.