Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has resigned from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat of Kerala and retained the Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said on Tuesday.

A Lok Sabha bulletin said his resignation has been accepted with effect from June 18.

Ending speculation on the issue, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge announced on Monday the decision on the two seats after the party's top brass held discussions at his residence in the national capital.

Rahul Gandhi's sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her electoral debut by contesting the Wayanad bypoll.

Following Rahul Gandhi's resignation from one of the two seats he had won, the Congress' tally in the Lower House now stands at 98.

The Wayanad seat will be the first constituency to go for a bypoll in the 18th Lok Sabha.

"Shri Rahul Gandhi, an elected member of Lok Sabha from two constituencies viz Wayanad and Rae Bareli parliamentary constituencies of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, respectively, has resigned his seat in Lok Sabha from Wayanad parliamentary constituency of Kerala and his resignation has been accepted by the speaker with effect from June 18," a Lok Sabha bulletin said.

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