On Friday, Congress unveiled the suspense of Rae Bareli and Amethi. While Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Rae Bareli, Kishori Lal Sharma is the party’s candidate from Amethi. Interestingly, when May 3 was the last date for nomination, this big announcement was made by the Congress at the last moment on the same day. Like Amethi, Rae Bareli has also always been a stronghold of Congress. On Thursday, May 2, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its candidate for Rae Bareli. From here the party has given ticket to Dinesh Pratap Singh. Now only time will tell who will prevail over whom, but the figures are pointing towards Congress.
Dinesh Pratap Singh, whom BJP has declared as its candidate, left Congress and joined the party in the year 2018. He is the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Uttar Pradesh and a BJP leader. In 2019, he was facing Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli. Dinesh Pratap Singh had to face defeat in that election. He came second in Rae Bareli in the last Lok Sabha elections. Dinesh Pratap Singh became a member of the Legislative Council from Congress for the first time in 2010 and for the second time in 2016. Then he said goodbye to the party and joined BJP. In the year 2022, Dinesh Pratap Singh became MLC for the third time by winning with record votes on BJP ticket.
BJP hopes to win
After being made the BJP candidate from Rae Bareli, Dinesh Pratap Singh said, ‘I assure the country that the departure of the ‘fake’ Gandhi family from Rae Bareli is certain. It is certain that BJP’s ‘lotus’ will bloom and Congress will lose. How confident Dinesh Pratap Singh is of victory this time can be gauged from one of his statements. He said on Thursday, ‘I have also contested elections against four-time MP Sonia Gandhi. Therefore Priyanka, Rahul Gandhi are not important for me. Whichever Gandhi comes to Rae Bareli, he will lose.
What does history say?
Rae Bareli has always been a stronghold of Congress. Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi had contested elections from Rae Bareli in 2004. This will be the first time for Rahul that he will contest elections from Rae Bareli. Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat came into existence for the first time in the year 1952. According to statistics, Congress has so far been the most successful party here. While Congress won 17 times in the Lok Sabha elections and its winning percentage was 85 percent, BJP won only twice. BJP’s victory percentage is only 10 percent, whereas Janata Party candidate has won once.
Congress dominates in Rae Bareli
In 1957, Feroze Gandhi won here by 162,595 votes. In 1971, Indira Gandhi contested elections here and got 183,309 votes. The impact of the Emergency was visible on the results of the elections held in 1977. Voters made Janata Party candidate Rajnarayan victorious. However, with the victory of Arun Nehru of Congress in the by-elections held in 1980, the seat came back to Congress.
BJP candidate Ashok Singh had won here in the elections of 1996 and 1998, but since 1999 this seat is with Congress only. Statistics say that perhaps Rahul might get the benefit of the strong support base created for the Congress party on this seat. Dinesh Pratap Singh’s record has been to come second here. In such a situation, this time an exciting contest can be seen on this seat.