Rahul Gandhi Wins Rae Bareli, Wayanad By Huge Margins, Congress Emerges Stronger

NEW DELHI, (IANS) – Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who ran from Kerala’s Wayanad and Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli seats, has won both the constituencies with a thumping margin of votes, reported the Election Commission of India.

In Wayanad, Gandhi beat Communist Party of India’s (CPI) Annie Raja by a margin of more than a whopping 3 lakh votes. In Rae Bareli, he beat the BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh by similar numbers.

He has to now decide which seat he will retain.

Gandhi’s performance and his party’s showing in states like Uttar Pradesh was a stunning comeback with the Congress now the second largest party in the Lok Sabha with 100 seats.

This helps the party in continuing to be reckoned with as the major opposition, something that was doubted till very recently. Even in the alliance, it has emerged as the centrifugal force and regional satraps will have to pay attention to it.

Gandhi rebuilt his image after being disparaged for long, with padayatras, which seem to have had an effect where he was seen as humble and relatable. He was also seen as finally taking politics seriously.

“I think Rahul Gandhi will get credit, not just for mobilization, for his marches, but also for continuously clarifying the Congress’s ideological pitch against the BJP,” Rahul Verma, a political analyst at the Centre for Policy Research think tank in New Delhi told Reuters. “If there was a moment when Gandhi really emerged, it is now,” he said.