Lok Sabha Election 2024: Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Raebareli, the seat previously held by his mother Sonia Gandhi, while his loyalist KL Sharma has been fielded from Amethi. Earlier today, the party released a list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024, fielding Rahul from Raebareli and Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi. Friday is the last date for filing nominations for these two seats that will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth round of the seven-phase general elections. 

Rahul Gandhi, the incumbent MP from Kerala's Wayanad, will contest the Raebareli polls against BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh, whom Sonia Gandhi defeated in the 2019 general elections. Meanwhile, preparations are underway for Rahul Gandhi's roadshow ahead of filing his nomination today.

About Amethi-Raebareli Seats

The Congress has historically secured victory in the Raebareli and Amethi constituencies, maintaining a winning streak from the 1999 to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, Rahul Gandhi faced defeat in Amethi against Union Minister Smriti Irani in 2019. Both seats have been strongholds of the Gandhi-Nehru family for decades. The Congress, which is contesting 17 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh as part of a seat-sharing deal with the Samajwadi Party (SP), has announced candidates for all seats except Amethi and Raebareli. Amethi will go to polls in the fifth phase on May 20.

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Rahul Gandhi's loss in Amethi in the 2019 polls, a constituency once considered a Congress stronghold, to Smriti Irani, was seen as a significant setback for the party's national reputation. Rahul represented Amethi in the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2019, following the footsteps of his father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was also elected from Amethi from 1981 until he died in 1991. Sonia Gandhi contested elections from Amethi in 1999 before Rahul took over in 2004. Currently, Rahul represents Wayanad in the Lok Sabha while Smriti Irani is bidding for a fresh term from Amethi.

(With Inputs From Agencies)