Rahul Gandhi to contest Wayanad: Congress eyes Left’s national party status

India वोट Kar | April 1, 2019

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will contest the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala in addition to Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Senior Congress leader A. K. Antony announced the decision on Sunday, and Rahul was expected to file his nomination on Wednesday, a day before the deadline.

It will be the first time a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family contests from Kerala, where all 20 constituencies vote on April 23.

About the seat

Wayanad was created in 2008 after delimitation. It covers seven Assembly segments: three in Wayanad district, three in Malappuram and one in Kozhikode. Several segments have a large Muslim population; Wayanad district is roughly 49% Hindu and 49% Muslim and Christian.

The Congress has won both Lok Sabha elections held in Wayanad, in 2009 and 2014, through M. I. Shanavas, who died in November 2018. His margin fell in 2014: he polled 410,703 votes, or 49.86%, in 2009, and 377,035 votes in 2014.

The Congress’s calculation

Antony said the candidature would help the party in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, since Wayanad sits where the three states meet. In Kerala the Congress fights under the United Democratic Front, in which the Indian Union Muslim League is a key ally; analysts said the Congress could not win the seat without the IUML. The party believes Rahul’s presence could help the UDF win 17-18 seats in the state.

Sources said the move was also aimed at the standing as national parties of the CPI(M) and the CPI, which they said fell short of the Election Commission’s criteria in 2014. The commission sent the CPI a notice that year, but the party kept its status after the rules were changed to review recognition after two successive elections instead of every five years. One source argued that with the Left out of power in Tripura and weak in West Bengal, Kerala was its last major base. Under the Symbols Order 1968, a party that loses national status cannot use a common symbol across the country, and loses benefits such as free broadcast time on state media and the exclusion of travel costs of up to 40 star campaigners from candidates’ accounts.

The Left’s response

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Rahul was coming to fight the Left rather than the BJP, sending the wrong political message. CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat said the Left would ensure his defeat, and CPI leader D Raja said the move made little sense since Kerala’s contest is between the Left and the Congress-led UDF.