Holding a Constitution book in her hand, 52-year-old Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took oath in the presence of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Her brother Rahul Gandhi, mother Sonia Gandhi, husband Robert Vadra and their children and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge were present at the event.
The first task that Priyanka Gandhi has on her shoulders as en elected representative is availing the yet-to-be announced Wayanad package from the Centre.
No relief package has been announced as yet for Wayanad even after three months having passed following the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an on-the-spot assessment of the landslide disaster, reports IANS news agency.
The calamity had washed away four villages in July and left over 400 dead and scores missing.
For the first time Rahul Gandhi, Sonia, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be present in parliament together.
Priyanka Gandhi who was dressed in a typical Kerala saree, was welcomed to the Parliament with flowers by the Congress-led UDF MPs from Kerala and was the first to take oath on Thursday, Nov 28th.
Of course her win was a foregone conclusion and she did it in style by winning with a margin of over four lakh votes.
Incidentally, she is the only woman MP from Kerala in the Lok Sabha and the UDF has now 18 MPs in the House, with the BJP and the CPI-M having one each.
Wayanad which was represented between 2019 and 2024 is facing numerous problems, such as lack of proper healthcare facilities, the raging man-animal conflict and the "night traffic" from Wayanad to neighbouring Karnataka.
Incidentally, the biggest campaign point that the ruling Left and the BJP raised during their campaign starting from 2019 when Rahul Gandhi first stood as the Congress candidate and then again in 2024, was that Wayanad needs a full time representative in Parliament and not a tourist MP.
However, all such campaigns on expected lines failed to evoke any response from the electorate as senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi first won with a margin of 4.30 lakh votes that dipped to 3.60 lakh in April 2024 and then Priyanka Gandhi tasted electoral victory with a margin of 4.10 lakh votes.
The voter turnout in the Wayanad bypoll was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.
The election was necessitated in Wayanad after Rahul Gandhi won both Wayanad and Rae Bareli seats and decided to retain the latter. Rahul Gandhi actively campaigned for his sister Priyanka Gandhi.
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