India's Priyanka Gandhi is finally making her election debut

Priyanka Gandhi, sister of Rahul Gandhi, leader of India's main opposition Congress, is set to contest her first election, which her followers have been eagerly awaiting for decades.

Mrs Gandhi is a scion of India's most famous political family, the Nehru-Gandhi family, and her first election campaign will be closely watched. The 52-year-old is contesting from the Wayanad constituency in the southern Indian state of Kerala after his brother defected.  The success of Mrs. Gandhi had all three members of the Gandhi family sit in the Parliament of India.

His mother Sonia Gandhi is the Vice-President of the Congress Party and a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, the main house of Parliament. His brother Gandhi won the Wayanad and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh in the recent assembly elections.

Gandhi, who has represented Wayanad as an MP since 2019, stepped down as he can only hold one parliamentary seat under Indian law. On Monday, he expressed gratitude to the Wayanad community for their "love, respect, and support". The date for the by-election has not yet been announced, but Mrs Gandhi said she was not worried.

"I am delighted to serve Wayanad and I will not let anyone get upset without Rahul Gandhi," he stated on Monday.. I will try and work hard to make everyone happy and be a good representative." The snap election will end a decade-long wait by Congress supporters for Mrs Gandhi to enter electoral politics.

Journalist Javed Ansari, who has covered the Congress party for decades, told media persons that he was not surprised by the statement. "It's a question of when it will be challenged and when it won't," he said. For years, Mrs Gandhi has been seen as more popular than the Gandhi brothers, with many blaming her brother's "lack of leadership" for back-to-back defeats in the Congress between 2014 and 2019.

From an early age, people noted Mrs Gandhi's resemblance to her grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Gandhi has been actively involved in Amma's election campaigns since the late 1990s. When he became active in politics in 2004, he also campaigned for his brother.

Senior leaders highly valued his political acumen and ability to communicate with people. Gandhi's formal entry into politics came when he led the Congress election campaign in the eastern state of Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The Congress continued to perform poorly in that election and in the 2022 state assembly elections, but Ms Gandhi was not charged. Senior party leaders said the performance did not reflect his performance and met their expectations. Appointed General Secretary of the Congress in 2019, Ms Gandhi led the party's election campaigns in several states.

Party leaders say he has been instrumental in stabilizing the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh this year amid a revolt by some legislators. He is leading the Congress campaign in Uttar Pradesh, where opposition parties have made gains, including in Amethi and Rae Bareli, Gandhi family strongholds.

"He held the fort for Rahul and thus could campaign across the country," Ansari said.

If Gandhi wins, it will be interesting to see the brothers together in Parliament, said political commentator Neerja Chaudhary.

"Personally, I think Priyanka is smarter than them. She thinks on her feet and her speech is cleaner than his,” he said, adding that she would be “watched closely”.

Congress leaders and workers in Kerala are excited that Mrs. Gandhi is going to represent Wayanad as an MP. The party's regional committee chief ND Aipan said the family would continue to communicate with the people of Wayanad. The ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BHJ) has criticized royal politicians in response to the news of Ms. BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla said that Congress is not a party but a family affair. But Annie Raja, a member of the Communist Party of India, opposed Gandhi in the previous Wayanad elections to present her candidature. 

Raja, who lost the election by more than 360,000 votes, has yet to announce whether he will run against Raja. Gandhi in elections. She does, however, contend that there should be more women in the legislature.

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