“Haven’t decided yet”: Rahul Gandhi on which seat to retain after winning Wayanad, Rae Bareli

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who registered massive victories on the seats of Rae Bareli and Wayanad in the Lok Sabha elections, said he has not decided yet which of the two seats he would retain. He also thanked the voters of both constituencies for supporting him in the elections.

“I have won from Rae Bareli and Wayanad and I thank the voters. I need to decide which seat I will retain. I haven’t decided yet,” Rahul said at the party’s press conference on Tuesday. Rahul Gandhi won the seat of Rae Bareli by defeating BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh by a margin of 3,90,030 votes. Gandhi had contested this seat aiming to save the lone bastion of the party in the state after he lost Amethi in 2019.

The Congress leader also won the seat of Wayanad, which paved his entry to the Lok Sabha in 2019. He defeated Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate Annie Raja by 3,64,422 votes. Congress leader lauded the people of Uttar Pradesh after the INDIA bloc registered a strong performance in the state in the Lok Sabha elections, defying the predictions made in the exit polls.

According to the latest data by the Election Commission of India, the INDIA bloc is ahead on 44 out of 80 seats in the state. Samajwadi Party is ahead on 38 seats while the Congress party is leading on 6 seats.

“UP ki janta ne kamaal karke dikha diya…The people of UP understood the politics of the country and the danger to the Constitution, and they safeguarded the Constitution. I want to thank all the states but I would especially thank Uttar Pradesh. I thank them for supporting the Congress party and the INDIA alliance,” he said.

यूपी की जनता ने कमाल कर दिया।

आपका बहुत-बहुत धन्यवाद 🙏

: @RahulGandhi जी pic.twitter.com/900dFDRvwc

— Congress (@INCIndia) June 4, 2024

The Congress leader added that the party will hold meeting with INDIA bloc partners on Wednesday. “We are going to have a meeting with our INDIA alliance partners tomorrow…we respect our alliance partners and we won’t make statements to press without asking them,” the Congress leader said.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) crossed the majority mark in early leads and is ahead on around 300 seats, while the INDIA bloc, defying all predictions is leading on over 230 seats. Most exit polls predicted a straight term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with quite a few of them projecting a two-thirds majority for the ruling BJP-led NDA.