Congress top meet today, likely to discuss Amethi and Raebareli seats

The Congress will conduct a Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting today to consider candidates for the highly awaited Uttar Pradesh seats of Raebareli and Amethi.

According to the reports, leaders of the UP Congress and Avinash Pandey, chairman of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in UP, have been invited to a meeting today.

The UP Congress had previously proposed to the CEC that the Gandhi family should contest the Amethi and Raibareli seats, with the choice left to the CEC and high leadership.

A senior party official told ANI that the environment is extremely good, and they are optimistic that the proposal would be taken in good faith.

The Congress is likely to nominate Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi as candidates for the Amethi and Rae Bareli seats, respectively.

In 2019, Smriti Irani beat Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha election from Amethi. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Irani again for the seat.

Notably, the businessman-husband of Congress politician Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Robert Vadra who previously indicated a desire to run for the Amethi parliamentary seat, has stated that the whole country aspires for him to enter active politics. He further said that Smriti Irani, the current MP from Amethi, had not kept her pledges and have not worked properly in the constituency. 

The two constituencies, Amethi and Rae Bareli, will be going for polls in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20.

(With inputs from agencies)