After the good performance of Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, everyone's eyes were on which seat Rahul Gandhi would contest from. This time Rahul Gandhi has won the elections from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad in Kerala. Then he had to leave one seat. Rahul Gandhi resigned from the Wayanad seat and retained the parliamentary seat from Rae Bareli. Along with resigning from Wayanad, Congress also announced that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be the candidate in the by-election to be held on the Wayanad seat. If Priyanka wins the election from Wayanad, then the Gandhi-Nehru family will create a new record in the Parliament.
After a long time, when Priyanka Gandhi entered active politics in 2019, all kinds of predictions were made about her contesting elections, sometimes it was claimed that she would contest from the traditional Amethi seat of Uttar Pradesh, sometimes from the Rae Bareli seat of her mother Sonia Gandhi and sometimes from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, but she never contested the elections.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is contesting elections for the first time
However, now the party has announced to field Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the by-election from Wayanad seat. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has so far limited herself to election campaigning, will now try her luck in the electoral field for the first time. Now if Priyanka Gandhi wins this election, it will be a historic moment in parliamentary history. If Priyanka Gandhi wins the Lok Sabha by-election from Wayanad, it will be the first time that a mother, son and daughter from the Gandhi-Nehru family will be in Parliament together. Sonia Gandhi is currently a Rajya Sabha MP while Rahul Gandhi has reached the Lok Sabha by winning the election from Rae Bareli.
Father-in-law and son-in-law were also Lok Sabha MPs together
However, let us tell you that even before this, many times at least 2 members of this Gandhi-Nehru family have been in Parliament at one time. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister while his son-in-law Feroze Gandhi was a Lok Sabha MP. Feroze Gandhi was elected MP for the first time in 1952 and then in 1957 from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nehru was also a Lok Sabha MP. Indira Gandhi started her parliamentary career by becoming a member of the Rajya Sabha for the first time in 1964. When she won the Lok Sabha election for the first time in 1967.
When Indira Gandhi was elected MP in the 1980 elections, her son Sanjay Gandhi was also elected as a Lok Sabha MP from Amethi seat. This was the first time that a mother-son duo from the Gandhi-Nehru family became MPs in Parliament, but a few months later, Sanjay Gandhi died in a plane crash. Then a by-election was held on this seat. Sanjay Gandhi's elder brother Rajiv Gandhi started his political career in 1981 from the by-election held on the Amethi seat and reached the Lok Sabha. Then Indira Gandhi was also a Lok Sabha MP and her son was also elected as an MP.
Then in 2004, the mother-son duo from the Gandhi-Nehru family again reached the Parliament. Sonia Gandhi was elected MP from Rae Bareli and her son Rahul Gandhi started his political journey from Amethi and won his first victory.
The pair of Maneka Gandhi and son Varun Gandhi are also in Parliament
The family of Sanjay Gandhi, the second son of Feroze and Indira Gandhi, has also been continuously associated with politics. The duo of Sanjay Gandhi's wife Maneka Gandhi and his son Varun Gandhi also reached Parliament thrice. Varun Gandhi started his career by winning the election from Pilibhit seat in 2009. Then Maneka Gandhi was elected to Parliament from Ambala seat. In 2014, Varun Gandhi became an MP from Sultanpur, while mother Maneka reached the Lok Sabha from Pilibhit. In 2019, Varun was elected MP from Pilibhit for the third time while Maneka won from Sultanpur.
However, after a lot of struggle, Maneka lost the election in 2024 when her son was not fielded by the BJP. At the same time, the pair of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi has been in Parliament since 2004, but at present Sonia Gandhi is a member of the Rajya Sabha instead of the Lok Sabha.
Sonia Gandhi will be seen in Parliament with her children
Now, 20 years later, in 2024, this mother-son duo is going to take a step forward and include their daughter Priyanka Gandhi with them. By-election will be held on Wayanad seat within the next 6 months. If Priyanka wins the by-election, then after 6 months, 3 members of the Gandhi family will be seen together in Parliament, while no member of Maneka Gandhi's family will be seen in Parliament.