Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday cruised to her maiden electoral victory, from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, with a margin of over 4.1 lakh votes against Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front's Sathyan Mokeri, according to figures released by the Election Commission.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was given a rousing welcome by thousands of people, including United Democratic Front leaders and workers, at Kalpetta in Wayanad on Wednesday as she prepares to make her electoral debut by filing nomination papers for the coming Lok Sabha bypoll.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has accused the Congress party and its leader Rahul Gandhi of acting as the 'B-team' of the BJP, criticising their stance on various issues and alleging a tacit alliance between the two parties.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot accuses the BJP of indirectly supporting the ruling LDF in the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections, alleging a hidden alliance for mutual benefit.
Rahul Gandhi said both Rae Bareli and Wayanad "will get two MPs".
The search for survivors continues after several devastating landslides triggered by heavy rainfall hit the hills in Wayanad district.
Brisk polling was seen for the Wayanad Lok Sabha and the Chelakkara assembly seats in Kerala as they witnessed a turnout of 20.54 and 19.08 per cent, respectively, after the first three hours of voting on Wednesday.
The Kerala government on Saturday announced that a township will be established in a secure area to rehabilitate those displaced by the catastrophic landslide that occurred in the Mundakkai region of Wayanad district.
The Wayanad district authorities said people from residential areas in the affected places were being shifted to safer locations.
The integration of artificial AI-based judicial assistance tools into the district court management framework has accompanied the shift.
Local residents have stressed that land acquisition for rehabilitation must be completed promptly, as it has been delayed after estate owners challenged it in the Kerala high court.
The death toll in the series of deadly landslides that rocked the hamlets of Kerala's Wayanad last week has touched 222, according to the state government on Monday.
Swollen water bodies changed their course and flowed through inhabited areas, resulting in more destruction.
A total of 1,162 essential documents have been distributed among 872 persons at the camp, the district administration in Wayanad said.
Rahul, the sitting MP of Wayanad, said that he was always ready to bring the issues being faced by the people of the hill constituency to the attention of the nation and the world.
'The deceased persons might be sitting or lying down when the tragedy struck them in the wee hours of Tuesday'
Survivors of the landslides in Chooralmala-Mundakai in Wayanad district alleged on Thursday that they were given worm-infested food kits by the Meppadi Gram Panchayat, leading to a violent protest by the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Thursday.
A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rain of over 20 cm in 24 hours. An orange alert means very heavy rain of 11 cm to 20 cm, and a yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
Rescue operations in Kerala's Wayanad district resumed on Thursday, marking one of the largest efforts to save those stranded by the landslides that have hit the region.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, where Rahul Gandhi won for the second time in a row, comprises three assembly constituencies each in the tribal district of Wayanad and the Muslim-dominated Malappuram, as well as one in Kozhikode district where Christians hold a significant vote base.
In a post on X, Chiranjeevi on Sunday expressed anguish over the loss of life due to the landslides in Kerala, adding he and his son-"RRR" star Ram Charan were donating Rs 1 crore to the CMDRF.
The minister added that many of the surviving children have lost their textbooks and certificates, among others, and the government will consider all these matters and help them after a discussion with the chief minister.
Shruti, who lost her entire family in the Wayanad landslide disaster and later her fianc in a road accident, began a new chapter of hope by joining government service. The state cabinet had recently decided to provide a government job to the young woman, who had endured back-to-back tragedies. She joined the Revenue Department as a clerk in the mountainous district, expressing gratitude to the government for its support during her difficult times.
'It was specifically mentioned in the Gadgil Committee report that this particular area where the colossal landside happened now should be in the Environmentally Sensitive Area under Zone 1.' 'Zone 1 is the most important and ecologically sensitive area, and that it has to be protected entirely.' 'At least 90% of the Wayanad disaster is man-made.'
Grim and sad scenes from landslide hit Wayanad district.
Malayalam television channels aired the visuals captured on the CCTVs in some shops in Chooralmala, one of the hamlets completely destroyed in the disaster.
Emotional scenes were witnessed at the polling stations set up for the survivors of the landslides, which hit the hill district in July this year, to cast their votes in the bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency when they saw their neighbours and close friends after a long time since the disaster.
The DYFI has been organising numerous challenges and festivals across the state as part of its various fund-raising events to help the rehabilitation efforts for the survivors of the devastating landslides in Wayanad district on July 30.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
The rescuers on Friday found that the family, comprising two males and two females, was isolated after the landslide cut off their house from the rest of the region.
The Congress leader said his sister Priyanka Gandhi will be representing Wayanad if the people give her an opportunity and expressed confidence that she will do an excellent job at being their MP.
He said scientists have noticed a trend of very deep cloud systems developing over the southeast Arabian Sea, and added that sometimes, these systems intrude into the land, like in 2019.
The number of people who have died in the massive landslides that hit Wayanad district three days ago has gone up to 210, Kerala Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas said on Friday.
Several people are still feared trapped in the debris after a series of landslides that occurred in Chooralmala and Mundakkai of Wayanad.
UPCC chief Ajai Rai clarifies Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's role in Uttar Pradesh Congress campaigns, emphasizing her national leadership while confirming her continued prominence in the state.
The death toll in the devastating landslides in Kerala's Wayanad district rose to 167 on Wednesday, while 191 were missing even as the rescue teams intensified efforts to find survivors trapped under the debris on the second day of the search operations.
Rescue teams on Friday used GPS coordinates from aerial drone pictures and cell phones, including the last location of people who lived in the landslides-hit areas of Wayanad to help locate survivors, amidst accelerated search operations after the completion of the 190-foot-long Bailey bridge by the Army.
Television channels aired phone conversations of several people crying and requesting someone to come and rescue them as they were either trapped in their houses or had no way to travel as bridges had been washed away and the roads were flooded.
On April 3, Gandhi's roadshow, on the way to filing his nomination in Wayanad was visibly different from that of 2019 in the hill constituency when the green flags of ally IUML outnumbered the Congress's in the crowd. There were no flags of any party or affiliated organisations.
