Rae Bareli: The din and bustle of the high-voltage campaign in the May 8 Lok Sabha by election came to an end on Saturday with Congress President Sonia Gandhi sitting pretty in the race involving BJP's Vinay Katiyar among others.
Despite her hold in the constituency, Gandhi left nothing to chance by appointing her son Rahul as her campaign manager and daughter Priyanka as her election agent in the 16-cornered contest in which SP, BJP and Apna Dal appeared to be the only serious candidates.
Rahul, in compliance with the Election Commission order for VIP campaigners with security to leave the constituency by 1700 hours, left before the deadline, canceling two meetings.
The SP, which had emerged second in the 2004 elections, has put up Raj Kumar Chaudhary, son-in-law of senior party leader Beni Prasad Verma.
Expelled BJP leader Uma Bharati is seeking to create embarrassment for the BJP chief Rajnath Singh by vigorously backing the Apna Dal candidate Prabha Singh Lodhi.
This is the first Lok Sabha by election from Uttar Pradesh since Rajnath Singh, who hails from the state, has taken over the party mantle from L K Advani.
BSP has come out in support of Gandhi in this by poll, which shows warming up of ties between the Mayawati-led party and the Congress ahead of next year's assembly polls.
Gandhi had resigned in March at the heart of the controversy over the office of profit issue.
Taking the voters down the memory lane, Congress leaders reminded them of the five-generation-old tie of Nehru-Gandhi family with Rae Bareli and made a sensational appeal to vote for Sonia Gandhi so that she can win by a record margin this time.
The main issue raised by Congress during the campaign was "non cooperation" by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in UP because of which development in the constituency was getting affected.
In course of its campaign, Samajwadi Party accused the Gandhi family of having done little for the constituency's development.
SP took out cycle yatras to match Rahul Gandhi's padyatras to woo the voters.
At some places Rahul was accompained by brother-in-law Robert.
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