Congress’ Kishori Lal Sharma is currently leading from Amethi. BJP’s Smriti Irani is in second place. Irani is trying to retain the seat in a tough fight with the Gandhi family’s trusted lieutenant Kishori Lal Sharma in one of the most prestigious battles of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Amethi’s fate was sealed with 54.40% polling during the fifth phase of elections on May 20. Amethi was the biggest setback for the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi by 55,000 votes.
Amethi is being discussed a lot now because of Kishori Lal Sharma leading the race. Amidst all this, Priyanka Gandhi has also tweeted. Priyanka Gandhi wrote on Twitter that 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! When Congress leader Rahul Gandhi chose to contest from Rae Bareli instead of Amethi, this decision echoed in the political scene. Smriti Irani immediately took advantage of the opportunity and announced that history has been made. However, the Congress has fielded Kishori Lal Sharma, a long-time loyalist of the Gandhi family, against Smriti Irani. Smriti Irani was involved in many controversies during her tenure as Human Resource Development Minister from 2014 to 2016.
Opposition parties accused him of reading out a paper containing derogatory comments about Goddess Durga in Parliament, a claim he strongly denied and cited his devotional worship of Durga. Further, the consistency of his educational qualifications between his election affidavits in 2004 and 2014 was also questioned, further adding to the controversy surrounding him. His handling of the Rohith Vemula case, a Dalit PhD scholar who committed suicide at the University of Hyderabad, was widely criticised.
The opposition condemned the HRD ministry’s alleged involvement, including sending a reminder to the university’s vice-chancellor regarding the complaint against Rohith. More recently, Smriti Irani had challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to a debate on the differences between the 10-year rule of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the BJP-led Modi government. Despite the Hindu nationalist agenda led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the state may not yet be fully aligned with the saffron ideology.
