Amethi, Apr 10 : After filing his nomination papers from Wayanad in Kerala on April 4, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday filed his nomination papers from Amethi, in the presence of his family members.
Rahul Gandhi, along with his family members — Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, her husband Robert Vadra and their children Raihan and Miraya — joined a 40-minute long road show atop a bus, before reaching the Amethi Collectorate in Gauriganj to file the nomination papers.
Notably, Mr Gandhi filed his nominations on the opening day of the nomination process and this was the fourth time he would be contesting from Amethi.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who did not join the road show due to health reasons, came early to the Collectorate to be along with her son in the nomination process.
In the nomination process, Mr Gandhi was accompanied by Sonia Gandhi, Ms Vadra, her husband Robert Vadra and a lawyer to file their papers before the district returning officer Ram Manohar Mishra.
Congress president, for the first time is contesting from two seats Amethi and Wayanad in Kerala.
After filing his nominations, Rahul Gandhi rushed to Fursatganj airport to board a special aircraft for campaigning in Bihar and West Bengal while rest of the family members returned back to a guest house in Rae Bareli.
On Thursday, the entire family will again join Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli during filing of her nomination papers.
In Amethi, Rahul is pitted against his arch rival and union textile minister Smriti Irani, whom he had defeated in 2014 elections by a margin of over one lakh votes.
However in Rae Bareli, BJP has fielded an old Congressman and MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh against Sonia Gandhi making the contest interesting.
In 2014 polls, Ms Gandhi had defeated BJP candidate Ajay Agarwal by over four lakh votes.
The polling in both Amethi and Rae Bareli seats would be held in the fifth phase on May 6. The nominations in this phase commences from Wednesday.
The UPA president would be filing her nominations for the fifth time from Rae Bareli seat. She had been winning from the seat since 2004 after being migrated from Amethi, which was left to her son Rahul.
A Nehru-Gandhi family borough, Rae Bareli has been represented by Sonia’s mother-in-law Indira Gandhi represented this seat in the fourth and fifth Lok Sabha.
Similarly Amethi too is the Nehru-Gandhi family constituency, and Rahul Gandhi has been representing the constituency since 2004. Rahul’s father Rajiv Gandhi was elected from the seat for a decade from 1981 to 1991. Sonia Gandhi too was elected from Amethi in 1999.
