Lok Sabha election: BJP's Smriti Irani files nomination from crucial Amethi seat

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani on Monday filed her nomination from the crucial Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh.

"For the service of Amethi, I have filed my nomination today. In the last 5 years in Amethi, 1,14,000 houses have been built under PM Awas Yojana, 1.5 lakh families received electricity connections and over 4 lakh farmers received PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi...I am hopeful that people will bless PM Modi," said the BJP leader after filing her nomination papers.

Congress is yet to announce its candidate for the seat. Earlier, it was indicated that Congress will the final decision after April 26 and nominations can be filed next week. Phase 2 of the elections are scheduled on April 26. During Congress' committee meet, proposal was given from the UP Congress that the Gandhi family should contest the Amethi and Raibareli seats and the decision was left to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.


The Congress has not made any statements yet regarding the Amethi and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh, which were considered strongholds for the Congress until the 2019 elections. The grand old party, which is contesting 17 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh under INDIA's seat-sharing deal, has announced candidates for all the seats except Amethi and Raebareli.

In the past, Rahul Gandhi represented Amethi from 2004 till 2019. The seat is also associated with Rahul’s father Rajiv Gandhi, who represented the seat between 1981 till his death in 1991. Sonia Gandhi contested elections from here in 1999 and passed it on to Rahul in 2004.

Amethi is scheduled to go to polls in the fifth phase on May 20, with the last date for filing nominations set for May 3. The party is expected to make a decision regarding its candidates soon.

In the 2019 elections, Rahul Gandhi lost Amethi to Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani, a defeat that was seen as a significant blow to the Congress's prestige. Despite this loss, Rahul Gandhi has maintained a close connection with Amethi, referring to the constituency as "his home" in several public speeches since 2019 and asserting that "no one can separate him from Amethi."