In the precincts of Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, Kishori Lal Sharma, the Congress’s chosen contender, articulated a preference for a Gandhi scion to vie from the seat. However, he avowed his incapacity to rebuff the party’s directive mandating his candidacy. Sharma, an intimate confidant of the Gandhi lineage, emerged as the Congress nominee for the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency, a longstanding bastion once breached in 2019.

“Even as of today, my predilection leans towards the participation of the Gandhi progeny in the electoral fray of Amethi. Nonetheless, I perceive it as my solemn obligation to acquiesce to the directives dispensed by the venerable family,” Sharma articulated to PTI at the Gauriganj Congress headquarters. “I have perennially functioned as a ‘sevak’ (servant) devotedly to the Gandhi dynasty, and any mandate conferred upon me by the esteemed family shall be dutifully discharged,” he reiterated.

Following a period of prolonged suspense, the Congress officially nominated Sharma, an emissary of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and antecedently, Rajiv Gandhi, for the Amethi constituency. Sharma is slated to visit the Collectorate later in the day to formalize his candidacy by filing nomination papers under the supervision of District Election Officer Nisha Anant.

The BJP, in contraposition, has put forth the incumbent MP, Union Minister Smriti Irani, as its contender for the seat. Irani terminated Rahul Gandhi’s three-term incumbency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, clinching victory by a margin exceeding 55,000 votes.

Earlier on the same day, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a senior Congress leader, extolled the candidature of Kishori Lal Sharma for the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, citing the longstanding rapport between the Sharma and Gandhi families. “Our kinship with Kishori Lal Sharma ji spans generations. He has consistently been immersed in the service of the denizens of Amethi and Rae Bareli. His ardor for public service stands as a testament unto itself,” Priyanka Gandhi expounded in a Hindi post on X.