Amethi (Lok Sabha constituency)

Amethi is one of the 80 Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian parliament) constituencies in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. This constituency covers the entire Amethi district and was created in 1967. Its first member of parliament (MP) was Vidya Dhar Bajpai of the Indian National Congress (INC) who was elected in 1967 and held his seat in the next election in 1971. In the 1977 election, Ravindra Pratap Singh of the Janata Party became its MP. Singh was defeated in 1980 by Sanjay Gandhi of the INC. Later in the same year, Gandhi died in a plane crash. This forced a by election in this constituency in 1981 which was won by his brother, Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi went on to represent this constituency until 1991, when he was assassinated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The subsequent by election held in the same year was won by Satish Sharma of the INC. Sharma was also elected as the MP in the next election in 1996. Sanjay Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated Sharma in the 1998 election. The widow of Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, represented this constituency from 1999–2004. As of the latest elections in 2014, her son Rahul Gandhi is the MP of this constituency, a seat he has held since 2004. As of 2014, Amethi has been represented by four members of the Nehru–Gandhi family since 1980.