Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers from Rajasthan's capital Jaipur for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. After serving five terms as a Lok Sabha MP, this will be the 77-year-old leader's first term in the Upper House. The leader reportedly decided to make a shift to the Upper House due to some health concerns.
Sonia Gandhi, who represented Rae Bareli in the Lok Sabha, has decided not to contest the upcoming general elections. A five-term Lok Sabha MP, she was first elected in 1999 after assuming the presidency of the Congress party.
The Rajya Sabha polls will be held on February 27, with a total of of 56 members of the House from 15 states retiring in April. February 15 is the last date for filing nominations.
Here's a look at how Sonia Gandhi fared in the past Lok Sabha elections:
2019 Lok Sabha polls
In the last Lok Sabha polls held in 2019, Sonia Gandhi bagged a total 55.8 per cent of the votes in Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli, leaving BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh behind at the second place who polled 38.36 per cent votes, as per Elections.in.
2014 Lok Sabha polls
As per the data available on IndiaVotes.com, Sonia Gandhi polled 5.26 lakh or 63.8 per cent of votes in Rae Bareli and defeated her rival Ajay Agrawal from BJP.
2009 Lok Sabha polls
In 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi polled 72.2 per cent or 4.8 lakh votes from Rae Bareli. Bahujan Samaj Party's R S Kushwaha emerged as the runner-up with 1.09 lakh votes (16.4 per cent). BJP's R B Singh occupied the third place with over 25K (3.8 per cent) votes.
2004 Lok Sabha polls
Gandhi got 3.78 lakh or nearly 58.8 per cent of the votes in Rae Bareli in 2004 Lok Sabha polls. Samajwadi Party candidate Ashok Kumar Singh was defeated by a margin of nearly 2.50 lakh votes.
(With PTI inputs)
Published 14 February 2024, 06:42 IST