New Delhi: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has won her debut by-election from Wayanad with a bigger margin than her brother Rahul Gandhi. She fills the vacancy left by Mr Gandhi when he had moved to Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. Her final score stood at over 6 lakh votes when the counting ended this evening, over 4 lakh more than her nearest rival and CPI veteran Sathyan Mokeri's tally of about 2 lakh votes.
In a post on X, she thanked the voters for placing their trust in her and promised to be their voice in Parliament.
“My dearest sisters and brothers of Wayanad, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the trust you have placed in me. I will make sure that over time, you truly feel this victory has been your victory and the person you chose to represent you understands your hopes and dreams and fights for you as one of your own. I look forward to being your voice in Parliament!” Priyanka posted on X.
The Congress leader thanked the leaders, workers, volunteers and her colleagues for wokring hard in her election campaign. She also expressed gratitude to her mother and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, husband Robert Vadra, children Raihan and Miraya and her brother and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for showing her the way and supporting her.
“Thank you for giving me this honour and even more for the immense love you have given me. My colleagues in the UDF, leaders from across Kerala, workers, volunteers and my office colleagues who worked incredibly hard in this campaign, thank you for your support, for tolerating my 12 hour a day (no food, no rest) car journeys, and for fighting like true soldiers for the ideals we all believe in,” Priyanka posted on X.
“To my mother, Robert and my two jewels- Raihan and Miraya, no gratitude is ever enough for the love and courage you give me. And to my brother, Rahul, you are the bravest of them all... thank you for showing me the way and having my back, always!” she added.
The by-polls were held in 48 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats across 15 states, with notable contests in Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad, Kerala, where Priyanka Gandhi made her electoral debut.
Meanwhile, BJP’s Wayanad Lok Sabha candidate, Navya Haridas, on Saturday expressed her dismay over the current trends as she has been trailing against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Haridas said that the BJP had done development-oriented campaigning despite that the party was not able to reach the level that they had expected.
“While this counting started, we were having expectations because we approached the people by speaking only about the development of Wayanad. What we can do here... This development-oriented election campaign was being done during this election. We had hoped that people would be executing their minds accordingly for development. But unfortunately, the election turnout was very low. BJP couldn’t reach the level that we expected,” she said.
The Wayanad seat fell vacant as Rahul Gandhi resigned from there after deciding to retain the the UP’s Rae Bareli constituency, as he had won from both the seats during the Lok Sabha elections 2024. (ANI)
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