The surprising turn of events are witnessing in Uttar Pradesh. The SP and Congress – INDIA alliance partners are putting their best fight to wrest the saffron bastion, and so far it is working.
Reports indicate that Amethi, one of the sought-after constituencies, not going to align well for sitting MP and Minister Smriti Irani. As per the recent reports from Election Commission of India (ECI), Smriti Irani is trailing in the constituency behind Congress’ KL Sharma by a margin of 27094 votes.
In 2019, Smriti Irani won the seat by defeating senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by securing 4,68,514 votes, with winning margin of 55,120 votes.
Smriti Irani was celebrated as a “giant killer” with her victory and it is remarkable because she made a strong comeback after losing to Rahul Gandhi in 2014 by 1 lakh votes. But in the 2024 elections, along with family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma, Smriti Irani was denied the narrative of a high-profile contest.
Earlier, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had won the seat for three consecutive terms—in 2004, 2009, and 2014—by a large margin. In 2014, he had defeated BJP’s Smriti Irani with a margin of 1,07,903 votes.
Amethi constituency had seen high voltage campaign as many senior faces from the Congress party including Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were seen in the constituency prior to the elections. Priyanka Gandhi, who oversaw the election campaigns in Amethi and Rae Bareli, has helmed the affair, which included actively attending dozens of election meetings in the constituency as well as conducting meetings of booth level party workers.
