Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani will contest against Congress President Rahul Gandhi from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, once again. The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday released its first list of 184 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.

Irani had lost by a margin of 1.07 lakh votes in the 2014 General Elections. Since then, she has visited Amethi multiple times. Though she had lost, the margin by which Gandhi’s opponent was defeated reduced by 2 lakh votes between the 2009 and 2014 polls, NDTV reported.

Irani tweeted after the candidate list was announced to say that “Amethi is ready”. In the 2004 elections, she had unsuccessfully stood against Congress leader Kapil Sibal in Chandni Chowk, Delhi. Irani was formerly the Minister of Human Resource Development with additional charge of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Gandhi has won from Amethi three times, starting in 2004. The seat was once held by his father former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

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