Thursday, May 11 2006 16:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Rae Bareli: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today (May 11, 2006) won the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha bye-election by a huge margin of over 4.17 lakh votes, trouncing rivals belonging to the Samajwadi Party, BJP and others who all lost their security deposits.

Gandhi, who resigned the seat on March 23 facing disqualification petitions that she was holding an office of profit by being the chairperson of the National Advisory Council, romped home comfortably by securing 4,74,891 of the 5,90,026 votes polled in a low turnout of 43 percent in the constituency.

It was only a token fight by her opponents, including Samajwadi Party's Raj Kumar Chowdhury (57,003 votes) and BJP's firebrand leader Vinay Katiyar (19,657), while Uma Bharti-supported Apna Dal candidate Prabha Singh trailed far behind.

Gandhi's resounding victory ahead of next year's assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh immediately sparked a demand from a group of 25 MPs, including former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, that she take over the prime ministership and make her son Rahul Gandhi the party chief. The Manmohan Singh government is completing two years on May 21.

The 59-year-old Italy-born widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi achieved the distinction of having the largest victory margin in an election for any member of the Nehru- Gandhi family. The margin was also the biggest ever in Rae Bareli.