Political families fight it out to hold on to their bastions

NEW DELHI: In face of a massive wave in favour of the BJP sweeping the country, many political families managed to keep their forts secure while some, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, are finding it hard to hold on to their prized seats.


Sonia Gandhi's potential win in Rae Bareli might lose its sheen courtesy her son Rahul, who is trailing BJP's Smriti Irani in his pocket borough Amethi by over 19,000 votes.

The Congress president, however, is heading towards a comfortable victory in Kerala's Wayanad where he is leading by over 4 lakh votes.

The other mother-son duo from the Gandhi family -- Maneka and Varun -- who have contested on BJP ticket from Sultanpur and Pilibhit respectively are heading towards a victory in their constituencies.

In the Samajwadi Party's first family, party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav is leading in Mainpuri by 62,217 votes while Akhilesh is looking comfortable in Azamgarh with a lead of over 1.72 lakh votes.

However, Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav is trailing by just over 26,000 votes in Kannauj seat.

BJP star candidates from the tinsel town, Sunny Deol and his stepmother Hema Malini are leading by a thumping majority from Punjab's Gurdaspur and Uttar Pradesh's Mathura respectively.

Hema Malini is leading by 2,67,610 and Deol by 77,107 votes.

In Punjab, power couple the SAD's Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife incumbent Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal are looking towards a comfortable win in Firozpur and Bathinda constituencies respectively.

The stars, however, are not looking too good for the other famous couple in the fray -- former BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, now fighting on Congress ticket in Patna Sahib, and his wife Poonam Sinha, a debutante on Samajwadi Party ticket from Lucknow.

Shatrughan Sinha is trailing by 1,90,859 and Poonam by over 3 lakh votes.

In the west, National Congress Party's Baramati seat in Maharashtra seems secure with party chief Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule leading by 1,54,994 votes.

However, Pawar's nephew Parth is trailing in Maval by a margin of 2,16,349.

The Paswans of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in Bihar are inching closer to the finishing line. Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag in Jamui is leading by 2,40,061 votes.

The LJP president's brothers Ramchandra Paswan and Pashupati Kumar Paras are almost sure of their victories Samastipur and Hajipur respectively.

Down south, taking the lead are late Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi, and grand-nephew Dayanidhi Maran of the DMK.

Kanimozhi is leading in Thoothukudi, and Maran in Chennai Central, by 2,68,381 and 2,93,807 respectively.

Also featuring in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections are feuding factions within political families.

In UP's Firozabad, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSPL) candidate Shivpal Singh Yadav is warring with his nephew Akshay Yadav, with the latter leading by 11,824 votes.

Vying for the Malda North seat in West Bengal are cousin sisters -- Trinamool Congress' Mausam Noor and Congress' Isha Khan Choudhury. However, leading in the constituency by 16,165 votes is BJP candidate Khagen Murmu.

In Andhra Pradesh's Aruku, daughter V Shruti Devi of the Congress is fighting her father Kishore Chandra Deo of the TDP. But leading in the seat is YSR Congress' Goddeti Madhavi.