![Smriti Irani and Kishori Lal](http://media.assettype.com/thenewsminute%2F2024-06%2Fbfc4c1b9-ab00-41bc-b627-ccd1a6241496%2FUntitled_design__3_.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
In a major setback to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, incumbent Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani lost the Amethi constituency to the Congress’s Kishori Lal Sharma by a margin of 1,67,196 votes. Smriti Irani only managed to secure 3,72,032 votes, while Congress' Kishori Lal Sharma secured 5,39,228 votes.
Kishori Lal Sharma hails from Ludhiana in Punjab and has been a Congress loyalist for several decades. According to Indian Express, Kishori Lal has been working with Congress in Amethi since 1983 and has worked closely with Rajiv Gandhi. He is also said to have played a key role in Sonia Gandhi's first victory from Amethi in 1999. However, this is the first time that Kishori Lal Sharma is contesting elections as a candidate.
Actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani became a member of the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in 2011. She had first contested elections in the 2014 general election and was defeated by Rahul Gandhi by 50,000 votes. However, she defeated him in the 2019 general elections and became the Minister of Women and Child Development in the Modi cabinet.
With the exception of 1977 (Janata Party) and 1998 (BJP), the Amethi seat has been a bastion for the Congress since 1967. Sanjay Gandhi won from Amethi in 1980, while Rajiv Gandhi, his brother, won the 1981 by-election following Sanjay's sudden death. Rajiv later went on to win from Amethi in 1984, 1989, and 1991. Satish Sharma, a Congress loyalist, won the 1991 by-election following Rajiv’s assassination. Rahul Gandhi won the seat in 2004, 2009, and 2014, after Sonia Gandhi did so in 1999.
While Kishori Lal Sharma contested from Amethi this time around, Rahul Gandhi faced the electorate from Raebareli, formerly represented in Lok Sabha by his mother Sonia Gandhi. Rahul is leading by 3,90,030 votes in Raebareli.