The BJP heavily invested in this traditionally Congress constituency in 2019 by capitalising on the Sabarimala temple issue. The Left, which never won this LS seat, controls all seven assembly segments, showing how assembly and parliament elections vary.
Local Congress player Anto Antony seeks his fourth consecutive win. In the national spotlight was Anil K Antony, son of Congress leader AK Antony, who abruptly switched to the BJP. His background helped him rise quickly in the BJP, but now he must cope with electoral dynamism and turn headlines into votes. The Left has fielded former state finance minister Thomas Issac, a senior CPI-M leader, to convert the Left Democratic Front’s hold in assembly segments here to a Parliament seat and end his political sidelining after the last assembly polls’ surprise denial of a party ticket.
Congress’ campaign stresses on the importance of equipping the party with maximum MPs in order to oust Modi and repeatedly reminds locals of the violence that Christians endured in BJP-ruled Manipur.
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“The entire Congress party and the UDF are working like a well-oiled machine to ensure the victory of Anto Antony. The huge response Priyanka Gandhi received when she campaigned here showed our supporters enthusiasm and confidence,” district Congress president Satheesh Kochuparambil told ET.
The LDF has effectively campaigned for Isaac by highlighting the “dangers” of the BJP, broadcasting the Left’s principled struggle against BJP “unlike an undependable Congress”. “LDF victories in all Pathanamthitta assembly seats will now be extended to the Lok Sabha seat. The presence of practicing politicians-cum-intellectuals like Thomas Isaac in the Lok Sabha will elevate Parliament discourse, said LDF leader Varghese George.
Isaac must overcome two challenges: the local Christian population’s (and others’) preference for the Congress over the Left in Lok Sabha elections, and the palpable resentment against the LDF government’s incumbency and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s style of ruling.
While Anil K Antony’s task is to build on the 2.97 lakh votes that BJP’s K Surendran polled here in 2019. “The sitting Congress MP here is bogged down by incumbency. While the Left candidate (Isaac) is a senior. This election is also taking place when the LDF government has even defaulted on payment of (welfare) pensions. I arrived here as a new BJP candidate, but we have a confident campaign and I have communicated my vision for Pathanamthitta development to the people,” Anil K Antony told ET.
The Anil K Antony-led BJP push also met with a dramatic response when his 83-year-old father, AK Antony, still the Congress’ high-priest in Kerala even after his withdrawal from parliamentary politics, made a public assertion that his BJP candidate son should lose against Anto Antony.
