New Delhi, March 31: The Congress party on Sunday announced that its president Rahul Gandhi will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from two seats. Apart from Amethi, a Congress bastion, Rahul Gandhi will contest from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, party's spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters. The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency is newly formed and was created following fresh delimitation of seats in 2008.

"Rahul Gandhi has agreed to contest from two seats," senior Congress leader AK Antony said. Wayanad has been a Congress safe seat. In the last two Lok Sabha elections, M I Shanawaz of the Congress won the seat, defeating the Communist Party of India (CPI). In 2009 polls, C Vasudevan Master of the BJP got 31,687 votes which was a mere 3.85 per cent of the votes polled. He came a distant fourth in the contest. Rahul Gandhi Promises to 'Scrap NITI Aayog', Reinstitute Planning Commission if Congress Voted to Power.

K Muraleedharan of the Nationalist Congress Party did better than the BJP candidate, coming third with 99,663 votes (12.10 per cent). Compared to 2009, Shanawaz had a tough time winning the seat in 2014, scraping through with a little more than 20,000 votes over the second-placed CPI candidate to become one of the 44 Congress MPs in the last Lok Sabha.

In 2014, Shanawaz got 377,035 votes or 30.18 per cent of the votes polled compared to CPI's Sathyan Mokeri who got 356,165 votes or 28.51 per cent. However, that election saw the BJP placed third with its candidate PR Rasmilnath bagging 80,752 votes (6.46 per cent). The seat has been vacant since last year following the MP's death. Rahul Gandhi Explains Congress' Minimum Income Guarantee Scheme, Promises 'Rs 72,000 Per Year to 20% Most Poor Families'.

Wayanad is a hilly district located in North Kerala that shares borders with both the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The parliamentary seat comprises seven Assembly segments. Three of these are from Wayanad district -- Mananthavady (ST), Sulthanbathery (ST) and Kalpetta. One is from Kozhikode district (Thiruvambadi) and three are from Malappuram district -- Ernad, Nilambur and Wandoor (SC).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 31, 2019 11:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).