Gandhi loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma leading against Smriti Irani by over 1,57,000 votes in Amethi

In the wake of Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 defeat by Irani in Amethi, Sharma was fielded from the Congress bastion this election. His win comes as a major boost for the party in UP.

Kishori Lal Sharma with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in a photo she shared on X while congratulating him for his Amethi performance | Photo: X/@priyankagandhi

Lucknow: Gandhi family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma has avenged Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 defeat by Union minister Smriti Irani in the Congress bastion of Amethi, leading against her by a margin of over 1,57,348,votes as of 5:10 pm.

Sharma was fielded from Amethi after Rahul Gandhi chose to contest from Rae Bareli and Wayanad, where is leading by substantial margins of over 3,88,742 and 3,64,422 votes respectively.

In a huge upset for the Congress, Smriti Irani had defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019, securing 49.69 percent of the votes and winning by a margin of 55,120 ballots. In 2014, Rahul Gandhi had beaten Irani by 107,000 votes with 46.69 percent of the total votes.

The Congress won the Amethi seat from 1980 to 1996, but suffered a loss in 1998 when BJP’s Sanjay Singh won. Subsequently, a Gandhi family member represented the seat from 1999 to 2019, with Sonia Gandhi winning in 1999 and Rahul Gandhi from 2004 until Irani’s victory in 2019.

Sharma’s win comes as a major boost win for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, which sends the maximum number of MPs to Parliament. It’s also a major milestone for Sharma himself, elevating his stature from that of a Gandhi loyalist on the sidelines. This was the first election he has contested.

Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took to the social media platform X to congratulate Sharma.

“Kishori bhaiya, I never had any doubts, I was sure from the beginning that you will win. Hearty congratulations to you and my dear brothers and sisters of Amethi!” she wrote in Hindi.

 

Who is Kishori Lal Sharma?

Originally from Ludhiana in Punjab, Kishori Lal Sharma arrived in Amethi as a Congress coordinator in 1983—a year before Rajiv Gandhi became an MP from here for the first time.
Introduced to the Gandhi family by Captain Satish Sharma, who contested from Amethi after Rajiv’s assassination in 1991, Sharma cultivated strong ties with the people of the constituency.

Ashok Singh Hitler, ex-general secretary of UP Youth Congress, told ThePrint that positive feedback from the people eventually bolstered Sharma’s connection with the Congress leadership too.

In his campaign, Sharma, who was introduced as the “Hanuman” of the Gandhi family in public meetings, banked on his 40-year-old ties with them while seeking votes.

 

As Sharma’s vote count overtook Irani’s, elated Congress leaders credited Sharma’s strategic campaign management and Priyanka Gandhi’s vigorous canvassing. She remained in Amethi-Rae Bareli until 18 May to support her brother and Sharma.

Speaking to ThePrint, a senior Congress leader said that fielding Sharma in Amethi was a deliberate move to secure a safe seat for Rahul and also challenge Irani with a lesser-known Congress candidate.

“A win from Amethi is a big psychological boost for the party in UP. Several of Smriti Irani’s remarks in Parliament and beyond reflect high-handedness and were not taken lightly by people of Amethi. She had been harping on about defeating Rahul ji,” the Congress leader said.

“Her political career saw a rise after her win from Amethi and now that has been taken away from her.”

What next for Smriti Irani?

Irani’s loss could be a blow for her career and may affect her chances of being accommodated in the next term of the Modi government, but nothing is guaranteed, according to TP Singh, a professor of political science at the Banaras Hindu University.

“The defeat is definitely a setback for Irani, given that much of her politics has been about attacking Rahul Gandhi and cashing on defeating him. But there is no reason to write her political obituary so soon,” Singh told ThePrint.

He added that though the Congress had succeeded in getting a “political lightweight” to defeat Irani, there have been many instances of BJP leaders getting significant posts despite losing elections. However, he acknowledged that this would be more likely had the BJP got a thumping majority. So far, the trends indicate that the party may short of reaching the majority mark by itself.

“As far as the trends are concerned, it seems that while the BJP will return to power, it will need allies to support it. Allies like Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu have always sided with whichever party they found more comfortable and have switched sides accordingly. In such a scenario, accommodating losers like Irani would be difficult,” Singh said.