Kalpetta: Wayanad blessed Congress president Rahul Gandhi with a thumping victory while he suffered a shocking defeat in Amethi in Utter Pradesh. His decision to contest from Wayanad was proved right as he won the seat by a record majority of 4,31,770 votes leaving his rivals far behind.
Rahul bagged 7,06,367 votes, P.P. Suneer of the CPI 2,74,597 and NDA’s Thushar Vellapally 78,816. Rahul has clear majority in all seven legislative constituencies spread over three districts. His victory margin surpassed the expectations of even the Congress leaders.
His candidature here was earlier attacked by the BJP which alleged that he had run away to a minority-dominated constituency fearing defeat in the Hindu-dominated Amethi.
The two namesakes of Rahul Gandhi, K.E. Rahul Gandhi, son of Valsamma, got 2,196 votes while K. Raghul Gandhi, son of Krishnan, 845 votes.
It may be recalled that in 2014, the BJP had bagged 80,752 votes, indicating a slight dip in its vote share. In the first election after Wayanad constituency was formed in 2009, Congress leader M.I. Shanavas won it and was re-elected in 2014. In that year, Shanavas bagged 3,77,035 votes defeating CPI’s Sathyan Mokeri who got 3,56,165 votes.
