Raebareli Is Congress's Safe Seat, Except It Handed Defeat To A PM Once

The Congress's much-awaited announcement of its candidates for Rae Bareli and Amethi seats in Uttar Pradesh has put the spotlight back on these two bastions of the Gandhi family. The twin strongholds weathered many a political storm, including the wave in support of Narendra Modi in 2014, and remained with the Congress. In 2019, Amethi fell to the BJP, but Rae Bareli held fort. With both the BJP and the Congress showing its cards for these seats, the game is on.

Here's a look at the history of these 2 Congress bastions

Rae Bareli: Where A Sitting PM Lost

Among the Congress's safest seats anywhere in the country is Rae Bareli. Out of the 20 elections this seat has witnessed so far, the Congress has won 17. The Rae Bareli seat is also seeped in historical significance and has the distinction of being the only parliamentary constituency where a sitting Prime Minister suffered defeat.

First represented by Indira Gandhi's husband and freedom fighter Feroze Gandhi, the seat elected Indira Gandhi thrice. In June 1975, the Allahabad High Court declared Mrs Gandhi's 1971 victory from Rae Bareli void on the grounds of electoral malpractice. The court banned her from running for any office for six years, setting in motion a chain of events that would culminate in the Emergency.

In the 1977 elections after the Emergency, Mrs Gandhi suffered a crushing defeat in the Congress stronghold -- the only sitting Prime Minister to lose an election. And the one who defeated her was Raj Narain, who contested on a Janata Party ticket.

Mrs Gandhi made a comeback in the 1980 election. In the years that followed, Arun Nehru, a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, was elected twice from the seat.

The Congress then suffered setbacks in 1996 and 1998 elections, when the BJP's Ashok Singh won from Rae Bareli. On both occasions, the Congress was relegated to the third spot. The Congress managed to win Rae Bareli back in 1999 and Sonia Gandhi then held it for two decades -- 2004 to 2024 -- before vacating it to join Rajya Sabha. 

In an emotional letter to the people of Rae Bareli before she moved to the Upper House, Sonia Gandhi wrote, "After losing my mother-in-law and my life partner forever, I came to you and you spread your arms for me. In the last two elections, you stood by me like a rock even in difficult circumstances, I can never forget this." She had also expressed confidence that the constituency will stand by her family. 

As Rahul Gandhi gears up to contest from this prestige seat, he is up against the BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh.

Amethi: The Lost Bastion

Like Rae Bareli, Amethi has been a Gandhi family stronghold for years and has been represented by as many as four Gandhis -- Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Created in 1967, Amethi Lok Sabha seat was first represented by Congress's Vijdya Dhar Bajpai. Sanjay Gandhi's first Lok Sabha outing from here ended in a defeat, when the Congress was routed in the first polls after Emergency.

Sanjay Gandhi won the seat in 1980 elections, but it was vacated due to his death in an air crash soon after. In the four elections that followed, Amethi elected Rajiv Gandhi. Tragedy struck in 1991 when the former Prime Minister was assassinated days after polling in Amethi. The counting of votes later revealed that he had won the election. Amethi elected his wife and top Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in 1999. She vacated the seat for her son Rahul in 2004 who won it thrice in a row.

In the 2019 election, the BJP's Smriti Irani scored a surprise win over Mr Gandhi, defeating him by over 50,000 votes. This time, Mr Gandhi has decided to contest from Rae Bareli, leading the BJP to call him a "runaway soldier". To take on Ms Irani from the prestige seat, the Congress has chosen KL Sharma, a long-term loyalist of the Gandhi family who has earlier served as the MP's representative in Rae Bareli and has also worked extensively in Amethi.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has said Mr Sharma's "dedication and sense of duty will surely bring him success in this election".

The Dynasty Question

Before the Congress's last-minute announcement of its candidates in Rae Bareli and Amethi, speculation was rife that Ms Gandhi Vadra may be contesting from one of the seats.

According to sources in the party, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had requested her to contest from Amethi or Rae Bareli, but she refused. Behind her reluctance, sources said, was the fact that a victory for her and her brother Rahul Gandhi would put three members of the Gandhi family in Parliament -- mother Sonia Gandhi is now in Rajya Sabha. This would reinforce the BJP's charge of dynastic politics, she reasoned, according to sources in the party.

In a changed political atmosphere and the BJP's dynasty attack, the idea of holding on to a family stronghold may have gone against the Congress. Another line of argument, however, is that the Gandhi family has strong connections to these two seats and their star power does add to the Congress's advantage. So, the absence of Gandhi among the candidates in Amethi may just give sitting MP Smriti Irani an edge in the prestige seat.