As Amethi voted on Wednesday, it saw its two-term MP Rahul Gandhi for the first time on the day of polling in the last ten years since he had been representing the constituency — perhaps, an indication that the BJP and AAP had queered the pitch for him.
Faraway in Bihar’s Bagaha and West Bengal’s Krishnanagar constituencies, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi did not miss pointing it out in his rallies saying after not bothering to visit the area in five years, the stage has come where Rahul is now seeking votes from every nook and corner of Amethi.
“Those people who never even used to visit Amethi in these five years, are now seen roaming around the by-lanes of Amethi with their hands folded to seek votes,” Modi said and taunted Congress president Sonia Gandhi that her son was now also taking tours in Amethi to get votes. He maintained that the Congress is in such a “bad shape” that it is finding it difficult to “save” Amethi, where the three main rivals kept up the heat on each other.
Rahul, who has held Amethi lok Sabha seat since 2004, however, told reporters: “There is a long-term relationship here and it’s a very deep relationship” and Modi’s May 5 rally did not pose any challenge to him and will not impact the results.
In an unusual scene, Rahul spent the entire day making rounds of polling stations in the constituency and even objecting to a lotus sketched on a blackboard in a polling centre in Phulwa village in Tiloi.
He said he would complain to the EC against it. But Tiloi SDM AK Singh said they were yet to receive any complaint on the matter. Congress leaders said Rahul was present in Amethi to ensure there was no poll violation. His rival, the BJP’s Smriti Irani complained to the EC that Priyanka Gandhi’s political secretary Preeti Sahay was trying to influence voters and had entered a polling station without clearance from the poll watchdog. Earlier, she had an argument with Sahay over her presence.
The EC acted by asking Sahay to leave the constituency as people not registered to vote in a constituency and those from outside canvassing for candidates have to leave once campaigning ends. Irani also alleged that a local Congress leader had intimidated a BJP polling agent at a polling booth in Amethi.
For his part, AAP’s Kumar Vishwas, the third main challenger in the fray, complained to the EC about rigging in certain booths but the poll panel denied it later saying that it found peaceful polling at the booths concerned during its verification and that the AAP leader’s charges were unfounded.