The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday nominated software engineer-turned-politician Navya Haridas to contest the Lok Sabha bye-elections in Kerala’s Wayanad against Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, reported India Today.

The bye-elections will be held on November 13 and the counting of votes will take place on November 23.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had won from Rae Bareli and Wayanad in the 2024 general elections, but could retain just one seat according to the Representation of People Act.

The bye-polls have been necessitated because Gandhi chose to represent Rae Bareli in the Lok Sabha, where he won against the BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh by 3.9 lakh votes.

In Wayanad, Gandhi defeated the Communist Party of India’s Annie Raja by a margin of 3.6 lakh votes. However, his vote share dipped to 59.6% – down from 64.9% in the 2019 Lok Sabha election – while Raja’s rose by 0.8% and BJP state president K Surendran’s rose by 5.75% in the constituency.

Haridas, the general secretary of Kerala’s BJP Mahila Morcha, is a two-time Kozhikode Municipal Corporation councillor.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, she was the National Democratic Alliance’s candidate from Kozhikode South but lost the seat to the Indian National League’s Ahmad Devarkovil.

“I am very happy that the BJP has selected me for this battle and I feel that they are looking for a leader who will be with the people of Wayanad and not a person who occasionally comes to Wayanad,” she told India Today, criticising the Congress for fielding a Gandhi family member from the seat.

“A Member of Parliament should always be with them, understand their problems and try to solve them. This is where the BJP stands.”

Haridas claimed that the Gandhi family viewed Wayanad as a “secondary” seat and that local residents had recognised this, reported The Indian Express.

Addressing workers in Kozhikode, Haridas said that while Vadra was a known face nationally, she was a newcomer in Wayanad.

“Priyanka is coming as a representative of the Gandhi family who had failed to raise the issues of Wayanad in the Parliament,” she said.