Rahul Gandhi resigns from Wayanad seat, retains Rae Bareli

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has resigned from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat of Kerala and retained the Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said on Tuesday.

A Lok Sabha bulletin said his resignation has been accepted with effect from June 18.

Ending speculation on the issue, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge announced on Monday the decision on the two seats after the party's top brass held discussions at his residence in the national capital.

Rahul Gandhi's sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her electoral debut by contesting the Wayanad bypoll.

Following Rahul Gandhi's resignation from one of the two seats he had won, the Congress' tally in the Lower House now stands at 98.

This is the first vacancy to be created in the just-formed 18th Lok Sabha.

"Shri Rahul Gandhi, an elected member of Lok Sabha from two constituencies viz Wayanad and Rae Bareli parliamentary constituencies of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, respectively, has resigned his seat in Lok Sabha from Wayanad parliamentary constituency of Kerala and his resignation has been accepted by the speaker with effect from June 18," a Lok Sabha bulletin said.

If Priyanka Gandhi is elected from Wayanad, it will be the first time that all three Gandhi family members -- Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi -- will be in Parliament together.

Sonia Gandhi is now a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Before a 1996 amendment in the electoral laws, there was no bar on the number of seats a person could contest.

If a candidate wins from two seats, he or she has to quit one within 14 days of the election or faces the possibility of losing both the seats.

The winning candidates will take oath as Lok Sabha members on June 24 and 25.

The first session of the new Lok Sabha commences on June 24.