New Delhi, July 18 In case Rahul Gandhi is not an electoral candidate in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra seems to be the leading pick as the face of a combined opposition for the polls.
This was revealed during an exclusive survey conducted by CVoter with a sample size of 4,029 to gauge public opinion on changing political equations in the country.
According to the survey, overall one third of the respondents chose Priyanka Gandhi as their choice to be the face of the opposition in the event of Rahul Gandhi failing to get any relief from the Supreme Court in the matter of his disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP.
She is followed by AAP founder Arvind Kejriwal who is the choice of 13.9 per cent of the respondents while JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and former constituent of the NDA is the preferred choice of 13.6 per cent of the respondents.
West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC founder Mamata Bannerjee is the first choice for 10.4 per cent of the respondents. A substantial 30 per cent of the respondents state that they don't know or can't say anything on the issue.
While there have been differences over who will be the prime ministerial candidate of a united opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress leaders and supporters were confident of Rahul Gandhi being the face; especially after the seeming success of his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
However, he was convicted by a trial court in Surat, Gujarat in a defamation case and sentenced to two years in prison.
Subsequent to that, as per guidelines of the Election Commission of India, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha and barred from contesting any elections for eight years. His appeals for a stay on the conviction so that he can contest elections have been rejected by the Sessions and High Court in Gujarat.
On July 16 2023, Rahul Gandhi has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court requesting a stay on his conviction and two year sentence.
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