From Rahul Gandhi to Milind Deora, scions trail in family bastions

Going by the trends, Congress is set to lose its Amethi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh to Bharatiya Janata Party's Smriti Irani, for the first time since 1977

It is not just Rahul Gandhi who is struggling to retain his seat in his home ground of Amethi, his party colleagues Jyotiraditya Scindia, Deepender Hooda and Milind Deora are also trailing in their family strongholds.

The counting is mid-way and going by the trends, Congress is set to lose its Amethi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh to Bharatiya Janata Party’s Smriti Irani, for a third time after 1977 and 1998. In the post-emergency India, Sanjay Gandhi lost the seat to Janata Party’s Ravindra Pratap Singh by over 75,000 votes.

Rahul Gandhi has been contesting on this seat since 2004 after his mother and party President Sonia Gandhi vacated it for Rae Bareilly – another family bastion in the state.

Irani, on the other hand, is contesting the seat for the second time after losing it to Gandhi in 2014.

Former Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son and Indian National Congress MP from Rohtak may lose as his family seat in an on-going see-saw battle with BJP’s Arvind Kumar Sharma. Hooda was the youngest politician when he entered Parliament in 2005.

Jyotiraditya, who hails from Gwalior's Scindia family and is a sitting Member of Parliament was trailing from the family constituency of Guna in Madhya Pradesh. According to latest numbers BJP’s Krishna Pal Singh Yadav was ahead of Scindia.

Another politician son of a politician father Milind Deora -- son of late Congress leader Murli Deora -- is likely to lose his seat to Shiv Sena’s Arvind Ganpat Sawant.

These candidates once touted as the future leaders of the Congress party are struggling to stay relevant in what is being seen as a Modi tsunami.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in a comfortable position to retain office as his party is expected to emerge as the single largest party with an overwhelming majority for the incumbent government.