Wayanad bypolls: Cong leader Priyanka Gandhi to file nomination on Oct 23

Congress General Secretary and United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Priyanka Gandhi will file her nomination papers on October 23 for the upcoming parliamentary bypolls in Kerala's Wayanad, sources said.

As per Congress sources, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi will accompany Priyanka on the day.

Priyanka and Rahul will hold a roadshow ahead of the nomination filing, they added.

Congress approved Priyanka's candidature on October 15, after bypoll schedule was announced by the Election Commission of India.

In the run-up to the bypolls, Congress appointed Saral Patel as Media Coordinator for Wayanad with immediate effect, an AICC release said today.

Wayanad will go to the polls on November 13 along with voting for bye-elections in 47 assembly seats across 15 states. The first phase of assembly polls in Jharkhand will also be held on November 13.

Wayanad seat was vacated by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he was also elected to Lok Sabha from Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh in the general elections held earlier this year.

If Priyanka Gandhi wins Lok Sabha polls, she will be the third MP from the Gandhi family in the current Parliament. Sonia Gandhi is a member of Rajya Sabha.

Priyanka Gandhi had taken care of family strongholds of Amethi and Raebareli before plunging in active politics. She has continued her links with the two constituencies.

After Kharge announced in June this year that Priyanka Gandhi will contest from Wayanad, she had said her decades-old association with Amethi and Raebareli will continue.

"I am very happy to be able to represent Wayanad and I will not let them feel his (Rahul Gandhi's) absence. I will work hard and I will try my best to make everyone happy and be a good representative. I have a very old relationship with Raebareli and Amethi and it cannot be broken. I will also help my brother in Rae Bareli. We will both be present in Rae Bareli and Wayanad," Priyanka Gandhi had said in presence of Kharge and her brother Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi had said both Raebareli and Wayanad will get two MPs and had also expressed confidence of Priyanka Gandhi winning from Wayanad

"I want everyone in Wayanad to know that Priyanka is going to fight elections in Wayanad but I will be a frequent visitor to Wayanad and I will be available to the people of Wayanad and the commitments we have made will stand up to them and will to deliver all those commitments. I have an old relationship with Raebareli, I am happy that I will get to represent them again but it was a tough decision," he said.

"Priyanka Gandhi is going to fight the elections, and I am confident that she is going to win the elections. The people of Wayanad can think that they have two members of the Parliament, one is my sister and the other is me. My doors are always open for the people of Wayanad, I love every single person in Wayanad," he said.