NEWS
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CAMPAIGN TRAIL
ISSUES '98
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State:	Uttar Pradesh
Constituency:	Amethi
Total Votes Polled:	426913
Winner: INC	Satish Sharma	157868
Runner Up: BJP	Raja Mohan Singh	117725
Margin: 40143 (9.87%)

Tired of being the power behind the throne, Sanjay Gandhi finally decided to enter the electoral fray but at the wrong time. The year was 1977, and considering that he was considered responsible for most of the Emergency excesses the constituency rejected him, the first time and the only time it has voted non-Congress so far. Sanjay was elected in 1980, and on his death six months later his brother Rajiv succeeded him as MP in the June 1981 by-election. He won 84.2 % of the vote.

In the 1984 election, facing him was another Gandhi, sister-in-law and Sanjay's wife Maneka, contesting as an Independent. He won 83.7 % of the vote. In 1989, Rajiv faced another Gandhi, Rajmohan, but there was no stopping the prime minister. He won 67.4 % of the vote. He won the 1991 seat, posthumously, winning 53.2 % of the vote. On Rajiv's death Satish Sharma, a close friend of the family, won the by-election with 53.8% of the vote. He retained the seat in 1996 as well.