Priyanka Gandhi will surpass votes received by Rahul: IUML

Wayanad (Kerala), Nov 23 (PTI) Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will get more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi got in the Wayanad Lok Sabha poll and surpass the majority achieved by him, party-ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) said on Saturday.

IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said that going by the trends, Priyanka will get more votes than what Rahul got and the majority she achieves would also be higher than that of her brother.

A similar view was expressed by IUML’s national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty.

According to Election Commission figures at 11.46 am, Priyanka had a lead of 2,35,035 with 3,57,165 votes. LDF’s Sathyan Mokeri was at second with 1,22,130 votes and NDA’s Navya Haridas coming third with 67,058 votes.

Rahul had got 6,47,445 votes and won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes against his nearest rival, CPI’s Annie Raja, in the LS polls this year.

In 2019, he had got 7,06,367 votes and had won by a margin of 4,31,770.

The voter turnout in the Wayanad bypoll was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the LS polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.