Priyanka Gandhi, the sister of India’s main opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, is set to contest her first election, ending decades of anticipation by her supporters.
The 52-year-old will run for the Wayanad seat in the southern Indian state of Kerala after her brother relinquishes the constituency.
Gandhi comes from the famous Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, and her electoral debut will be closely watched. If she wins, it will mean all three Gandhi family members will have a presence in the Indian parliament.
Her mother Sonia Gandhi is an MP in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, while her brother Rahul Gandhi won seats in both Wayanad and Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli in the recent elections.
Priyanka Gandhi has been actively involved in the Congress party’s election campaigns for years, and was put in charge of the party’s efforts in eastern Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2019 general election.
While the Congress party performed poorly in that election and the 2022 state assembly polls, party leaders said Gandhi’s work was not to blame.
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Appointed the Congress party’s general secretary in 2019, Gandhi has since overseen the party’s campaigns in several state elections and has been credited with helping to stabilize the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh this year.
The announcement of Gandhi’s candidacy has received praise from some, including a member of the Communist Party of India who had contested against Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has criticized the move as an example of “dynastic politics” in the Congress party.
Gandhi says she is “not nervous at all” about her electoral debut and is looking forward to representing the people of Wayanad.
The by-election is yet to be announced, but she has vowed to work hard and be a “good representative” for the constituency.
