Priyanka makes Parliament debut

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday took oath as a Lok Sabha MP. She had won the Wayanad byelection earlier this month with a margin of more than 4 lakh votes.

Vadra was wearing a Kerala Kasavu saree, an off-white saree with gold border typical in Malayali festivities. Holding a copy of the Constitution in her hand, 52-year-old Vadra took the oath in the presence of her brother and Lok Sabha MP from Raebareli Rahul Gandhi, mother Sonia Gandhi, husband Robert Vadra and their children as well as Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who were present in the lower house.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present in the House when the Congress leader took oath.

Another Congress leader, Ravindra Chavan also took oath as a Lok Sabha MP. He had won the Nanded Lok Sabha seat with 5,86,788 votes in the byelection held alongwith Wayanad. The Nanded seat had fallen vacant after the death of the sitting Congress MP Vasantrao Balwantrao Chavan. The Wayanad win marks the electoral debut of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who will now be sitting in Lok Sabha along with her brother Rahul Gandhi, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the House. Their mother, Sonia Gandhi, is a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan.

Due to a low voter turnout, Vadra received 6,22,338 votes, less than Rahul Gandhi’s tally of 647,445 votes during the April Lok Sabha election in the constituency.

However, her margin of 410,931 votes surpassed his lead of 364,422 votes, making her maiden victory extra special. The Parliament now has three members of the Gandhi family for the first time in decades. While Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi will sit in the Lok Sabha, their mother Sonia Gandhi is in the Rajya Sabha after she opted not to contest from Raebareli in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Rahul Gandhi, who won from both Wayanad and Raebareli, chose to retain his family bastion and vacated Wayanad, following which Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was fielded from there. She got 6.22 lakh votes, and defeated CPM’s Sathyan Mokeri by over four lakh votes.