As Rahul Gandhi creates a buzz in political circles contesting and winning from two seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, data show that this is not new and a few other politicians have also contested and won from two seats in the past.
Data from Ashoka University’s Lok Dhaba portal point out that between 1962 and 2019, seventeen politicians have won Lok Sabha elections from two seats.
Some of the popular leaders who have won the Lok Sabha elections from two seats include former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and former Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik. Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has won the Lok Sabha elections from two constituencies during two elections.
According to the Representation of the People Act, one can contest the elections from two Lok Sabha constituencies simultaneously. However, they can hold the office from just one. As Rahul Gandhi vacates his seat in Wayanad, All India Congress Committee general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is all set to make her electoral debut from the Kerala constituency in the upcoming by-election.
1967 saw the most
The general elections in the year 1967 saw the maximum number of politicians win from two constituencies – seven. During the 1980 elections, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi won the election from Andhra Pradesh’s Medak and Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli. That was the second election after the emergency and both Congress and Gandhi had lost during the first election post-emergency (1977).
In 1999, Sonia Gandhi won the election from UP’s Amethi and Karnataka’s Bellary. That year, Mulayam Singh Yadav won from Kannauj and Sambhal in UP. The elections saw the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance win a majority in the Lok Sabha, the first time since 1984 that a party or alliance had won an outright majority.
In 2014, two politicians won the elections from two seats – Narendra Modi from Varanasi in UP and Vadodara in Gujarat and Mulayam Singh Yadav from Azamgarh and Mainpuri in UP.
With inputs from Mridula Krishnaraj, Gomathi Sundarrajan and Shreyas Arora, interns with businessline
