Sonia Gandhi was given a rapturous welcome from the Fursatganj airport to the district collectorate office. With Rahul at the steering wheel, Gandhi was welcomed with showering of rose petals all the way.

Before she filed the nomination, a havan was performed at the local Congress office in which Sonia and Rahul participated.

Old family loyalist Satish Sharma along with her lawyer was also present at the time of filing of nominations.

The constituency has been a Nehru-Gandhi family bastion since the 1960s. Indira Gandhi won it for the first time in 1967, taking over after the death of her husband Feroz, who was also an MP from here. Gandhi is a three time MP from Rae Bareli, including once elected in a by-election in 2006, after she resigned over office of profit issue. In 2004 elections she shifted to Rae Bareli from Amethi, leaving it to her son Rahul Gandhi.

In 1999, she won from Amethi and had also defeated BJP's Sushma Swaraj from the Bellary Lok Sabha constituency.