Priyanka Gandhi, the sister of Rahul Gandhi, leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, is contesting her first election, ending decades of anticipation among her supporters.
Ms Gandhi, a scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, India’s most famous political dynasty, will be closely watched for her first election appearance.
The 52-year-old will contest the Wayanad seat in the southern Indian state of Kerala after her brother gave up the seat.
Ms Gandhi’s victory would mean that all three members of the Gandhi family would enter India’s parliament.
Her mother, Sonia Gandhi, is the former president of the Congress Party and a member of the Upper House of Parliament.
Her younger brother Mr Gandhi won Wayanad and the Ray Bareilly seat in Uttar Pradesh in the recent assembly elections.
Mr Gandhi, who has represented Wayanad as an MP since 2019, will give up the seat as he can only retain one parliamentary seat under Indian law. On Monday, he thanked the people of Wayanad for their “love, affection and support”.
A date for the by-election has not yet been announced, but Ms Gandhi said she was “not nervous at all”.
“I am happy to represent Wayanad and I will not let them feel his [Rahul Gandhi’s] “Absent,” she said Monday. “I will work hard and try my best to make everyone happy and be a good representative.”
The by-election will mark the end of a decades-long wait among Congress supporters for Ms Gandhi to enter electoral politics.
For years, Ms Gandhi was considered the more popular of the Gandhi siblings, with many blaming her brother’s “lackluster leadership” for a series of Congress defeats between 2014 and 2019.
From an early age, Ms Gandhi was thought to resemble her grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Ms Gandhi has been active in mothers’ campaigns since the late 1990s. In 2004, when her brother became active in politics, she also campaigned for him.
Senior leaders praised her political acumen and talent for connecting with people.
Ms Gandhi officially entered politics when she took charge of the Congress campaign in eastern Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The Congress party performed poorly in that election and in the 2022 state assembly polls, but Ms Gandhi was not blamed. Senior party leaders said her performance was not a reflection of her work and did not meet their expectations.
Ms Gandhi was appointed Congress party general secretary in 2019 and has since overseen the party’s campaign in several state elections.
Party leaders said she played a key role in stabilizing the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh this year amid a revolt by some Himachal MPs.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticized dynastic politics on Monday over news of Ms Gandhi’s maiden election.
“Congress is not a political party but a family business,” said BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla.
However, her announcement of candidacy was praised by Annie Raja, a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) who contested against Mr Gandhi in the recent Wayanad elections.
Ms. Raja, who lost by more than 360,000 votes, has not confirmed whether she will run against Ms. Gandhi in the by-election.
But she said, “We need more and more women in parliament.”
