Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday filed his nomination to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli constituency.
The Congress also announced on Friday that it would field party leader Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi.
The two seats are considered strongholds of the Gandhi family and the Congress.
This came amid speculation that party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may contest from one of the two seats.
The Rae Bareli seat has been represented by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi since 2004. In February, she moved to the Rajya Sabha and announced that she would not contest the Lok Sabha elections because of her age and health concerns. Late former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had also represented the constituency.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from Rae Bareli.
The Amethi seat was held by Rahul Gandhi from 2004 to 2019, when he was defeated by the BJP’s Smriti Irani. The BJP has renominated Irani, a Union minister, from the seat. The constituency was earlier represented by Sonia Gandhi, late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and late Congress leader Sanjay Gandhi.
Friday is the last day of filing nominations in both constituencies. Polling will take place in the fifth phase on May 20.
The Congress is contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh in an alliance with the Samajwadi Party, as part of the Opposition INDIA bloc.
Rahul Gandhi is also contesting the polls from Kerala’s Wayanad constituency from where he has been an MP since 2019.
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