The latest official figures from the Election Commission of India (EC) indicate that Kishori Lal Sharma, the Congress candidate, is leading Smriti Irani, the rival candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), by a margin of 90,479 votes in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh. As of 2:00 pm, the BJP’s candidate from Amethi had collected 2,26,863 votes; the counting has started.
With 3,17,342 votes, Kishori Lal Sharma leads with reporters in Amethi. In an interview, she congratulated the Gandhi family and the residents of the seat.
“I would like to thank the people of Amethi and the Gandhi family” ANI quoted Kishori Lal Sharma as saying. He added, “However, let the counting conclude. We will talk after that.”
Of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, Amethi in Uttar Pradesh is one of the most keenly followed seats, partly because of its ties to the Gandhi family. Exit surveys from the seventh round of the votes, conducted on June 1, shortly after the results were in, indicated a close race between Smriti Irani of the BJP and KL Sharma, a Congressman and Gandhi family ally.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which had been a Congress stronghold for a number of years, Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi, the Congress candidate, from Amethi.
Rahul Gandhi ran in two significant Lok Sabha seats in 2024: Waynad in Kerala and Raebareli in Uttar Paradesh. Remarkably, Sonia Gandhi, the former president of the Congress, has been representing the latter since 2004.
The NDA, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, is aiming for a third consecutive term in power after surpassing the majority threshold in early leads. The INDIA alliance is over 200 seats and has defied all exit poll projections.