OMEN
05-11-2006, 10:19 AM
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INDIA'S ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi swept to a massive victory today in a by-election she provoked by resigning amid charges of holding two salaried posts, officials said.
Gandhi, the widow of India's assassinated former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, won by a margin of more than 417,800 votes, poll official Jitender Kumar said.
Her nearest rival in the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh took just 57,000 votes. Gandhi garnered a total of 474,891 votes.
She bettered her previous winning record from Rae Bareli set during national polls in May 2004 votes when the margin was 240,000 votes.
Gandhi's resignation from Parliament on March 23 took the sting out of a political storm that had threatened to engulf Congress over senior figures holding multiple government posts in defiance of the law.
The Italian-born 59-year-old is the standard-bearer for India's political dynasty created by founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and continued by his daughter Indira Gandhi, mother of Rajiv.
Agence France-Presse
INDIA'S ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi swept to a massive victory today in a by-election she provoked by resigning amid charges of holding two salaried posts, officials said.
Gandhi, the widow of India's assassinated former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, won by a margin of more than 417,800 votes, poll official Jitender Kumar said.
Her nearest rival in the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh took just 57,000 votes. Gandhi garnered a total of 474,891 votes.
She bettered her previous winning record from Rae Bareli set during national polls in May 2004 votes when the margin was 240,000 votes.
Gandhi's resignation from Parliament on March 23 took the sting out of a political storm that had threatened to engulf Congress over senior figures holding multiple government posts in defiance of the law.
The Italian-born 59-year-old is the standard-bearer for India's political dynasty created by founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and continued by his daughter Indira Gandhi, mother of Rajiv.
Agence France-Presse