Wayanad(Kerala) (PTI): Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, the UDF candidate in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, on Wednesday expressed hope that the people of the hill constituency will give her an opportunity to represent them and repay the love they have shown her.

Priyanka made the statement during her visit to polling booths in Wayanad, where voting is currently taking place for the Lok Sabha by-election.

"My expectation is that the people of Wayanad will give me the chance to repay the love and affection they have shown me and to work for them and be their representative," she told reporters here.

In response to reporters' queries regarding the Waqf law issue, which has created a political storm in Kerala, and the lack of central assistance to landslide-affected people of Wayanad, Priyanka said, "I do not think today is the day to speak about these controversies."

"Today is the day of polling. I hope everyone exercises their democratic right and comes out to vote," she said.

On being asked whether she will surpass the victory margin of her brother, Rahul Gandhi, when he won from Wayanad in the general elections earlier this year, the Congress general secretary said "that is yet to be seen".

Rahul had won the hill constituency in the 2024 general elections with a victory margin of over 3.5 lakh votes and in 2019 he had achieved a margin of over 4.3 lakh votes.

He had vacated the Wayanad LS seat after he also won the Rae Bareli constituency in the 2024 general election and therefore, necessitated a bypoll in the hill constituency.

 

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New Delhi (PTI): Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has returned to Delhi from Kerala's Wayanad after contesting the Lok Sabha bypoll, said coming back to the national capital was like entering a "gas chamber" and called for "putting our heads together" and finding a solution for cleaner air.

The Congress general secretary said Delhi's pollution gets worse every year.

"Coming back to Delhi from Wayanad where the air is beautiful and the AQI is 35, was like entering a gas chamber. The blanket of smog is even more shocking when seen from the air," she said in a post on X.

"Delhi's pollution gets worse every year. We really should put our heads together and find a solution for cleaner air. It's beyond this party or that, it's practically impossible to breathe especially for kids, elders and those with respiratory issues. We just have to do something about it," Priyanka Gandhi said.

Priyanka Gandhi has made her electoral debut from Wayanad polling for which took place on Wednesday.

She has thanked people for exercising their franchise and said they are an inspiration for her to work even harder as well as keep fighting for the ideals the nation was built on.

A bypoll was necessitated in the hill constituency after Rahul Gandhi, who won the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in the general elections held earlier this year, vacated it after he also won from the Rae Bareli constituency.