Wayanad saved the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi from blushes in 2019, when its voters exercised their franchise en masse in favor of the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha elections – he lost his family ward, Amethi – ensuring that he remains in Parliament. He won in the constituency again in 2024 – as well as in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, his mother’s old constituency – but decided he would retain Rae Bareli and vacated the seat. Now his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, is contesting the by-elections, her first tryst with electoral politics.