Lok Sabha polls: Congress leaders offer prayers after Rahul Gandhi files nomination from Raebareli

Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party leader Priyanka Vadra and her husband Robert Vadra also offered prayers at the party's central office.

Rahul Gandhi today files his nomination from one of the most anticipated seats in Uttar Pradesh-Raebareli, but what raised the eyebrows was that the Congress did not gave ticket to Priyanka Gandhi from Amethi Lok Sabha seat.

Congress has fielded KL Sharma from Amethi seat against Bharatiya Janata Party's sitting MP, Smriti Irani.

Rahul is pitted against Congress defector and three-time MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh in Raebareli.

Earlier today, claiming that Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was deliberately denied a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections, expelled leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam on Friday said she was a "victim of family and party conspiracy".

"I said this earlier that Rahul Gandhi will not contest Amethi. I said this, too, that Rahul Gandhi will not let Priyanka Gandhi Vadra fight these elections. There is a big conspiracy afoot against Priyanka. She is the victim of a conspiracy hatched by her family and the party," Acharya Krishnam told ANI on Friday.

Union Minister Smriti Irani said that Congress had conceded defeat from the constituency even before a vote was cast, adding that the opposition party would not have fielded a "proxy candidate" (Kishori Lal Sharma) if they were hopeful about the outcome of the polls.

"I welcome the guests to Amethi. The fact that the Gandhis are not fighting in Amethi shows that even before a vote has been cast, they are losing from Amethi. If they had seen even a glimmer of hope, they would have contested and not put up a proxy candidate," Smriti Irani told reporters in Amethi.

The voting in both seats will be held in the fifth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on May 7. (ANI)