Lok Sabha elections: Rahul Gandhi in Raebareli for poll campaign

Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 13 : Congress leader and candidate from Rae Bareli, Rahul Gandhi on Monday arrived in Raebareli for the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign.
His sister and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was also present when he reached Rae Bareli.
The Congress, on May 3, announced Rahul as a candidate from Raebareli and loyalist KL Sharma from Amethi, keeping Priyanka as well as Vadra out of the electoral contest.
Sharma is pitted against Union Minister Smriti Irani, who trounced Rahul in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Amethi seat has been represented by Rahul since 2004, and he remained a member of Parliament from the constituency until 2019. His father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, too, was an elected member of Amethi in the Lower House from 1981 till his death in 1991.
Sonia Gandhi contested and won Amethi in 1999 before passing the baton on to Rahul in 2004.
Before Sonia, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had won Raebareli thrice. The constituency also elected Indira's husband and Congress leader Feroze Gandhi twice, in 1952 and 1957.
Rahul Gandhi is a sitting MP in Kerala's Wayanad, where he is seeking a fresh term alongside Rae Bareli. Rahul represented Amethi from 2004 until 2019. He will face Congress defector and three-time MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh of BJP in Rae Bareli.
Rae Bareli constituency goes to the polls on May 20 in the fifth phase. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi won the constituency, bagging 5,34,918 votes. Her closest rival, Dinesh Pratap Singh, put up a formidable challenge, gathering 3,67,740 votes.
Earlier on Friday, Rahul Gandhi appealed to voters to come out in large numbers and exercise their franchise "Today is the fourth phase of voting! It has become clear in the first three phases that the Indian government is going to be formed on June 4. Remember, your one vote will not only protect your democratic rights but will also change the fate of your entire family. 1 vote = First job of Rs 1 lakh per year guaranteed for youth. 1 vote = Rs 1 lakh per year in the bank account of poor women. So come out in large numbers and vote and show that the country will now vote on its issues - it will not get distracted," he said in a post on X.
This will be Rahul Gandhi's first major rally in Rae Bareli after he filed his nomination. His sister and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi has been camped in Rae Bareli and campaigning in the constituency along with Amethi.
On Sunday while addressing a rally in in Sultanpur Kheda and Tikra of Harchandrapur Assembly in Rae Bareli the Congress general secretary reiterated the promises of the party.
"In the last ten years, the BJP government has waived off 16 lakh crore rupees of billionaires. But what was given to crores of poor, farmers, labourers, Dalits, backward, tribals, women and youth of the country? They were simply denied. We will change this situation. The Congress government will not work for a few billionaires but for all 140 crore people," she said.