Congress candidates in UP will eat into BJP votes, not alliance’s, says Priyanka Gandhi

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Wednesday that the candidates her party had fielded in Uttar Pradesh would damage the Bharatiya Janata Party’s vote share rather than that of the opposition alliance in the state, and predicted heavy losses for the BJP.

Her strategy

Speaking to reporters while campaigning in the state, she said the Congress expected to win where its candidates were strong. In seats where its nominees were weaker, she said, the party had chosen people who would draw votes away from the BJP. She insisted that the Congress was not cutting into the support of the UP mahagathbandhan.

The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, long-time rivals, have formed an alliance to take on the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and are contesting 75 of the state’s 80 Lok Sabha seats. Votes are due to be counted on May 23.

Why she is not contesting

On Tuesday, in Amethi, where her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi is seeking re-election, Priyanka explained why she had not entered the contest herself. She said she was in charge of 41 seats in the eastern part of the state and could not focus on just one. She said she had followed the advice of senior party leaders and colleagues in the state, and that her candidates still wanted her to visit their constituencies.

Asked whether staying out of the race sent the wrong signal, she said she did not think so and that she had always said she would do what the party decided. Jyotiraditya Scindia, another general secretary, is in charge of the remaining constituencies.

There had been speculation that she might contest, particularly after she responded to party workers who asked her to stand from Rae Bareli, the seat held by her mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

What happened next

When votes were counted on 23 May 2019, the BJP won 303 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats nationally and the Congress 52; Narendra Modi was sworn in for a second term on 30 May 2019.

See also: Indian National Congress, Samajwadi Party.

Originally published on 1 May 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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