Anil vs Anto: Kerala's Pathanamthitta to witness battle of the Antony(s)

livemint.com:

Anto Antony from Pathanamthitta. In the battle of high stakes, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, announced that Anto Antony will be contesting the Lok Sabha Elections for United Democratic Front (UDF)from Pathanamthitta constituency. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Congress veteran and former Union Minister of Defense AK Antony's son Anil Antony from Pathanamthitta.

Anil Anthony, who had been part of Congress, joined the BJP in 2023. This created a stir as his father did not support his decision of leaving the party that senior Anthony has been serving for decades. The BJP came out with its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on March 2, announcing 195 candidates across 16 states and two Union Territories.

Further, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) is likely to field the CPI(M) central committee member TM Thomas Isaac. The UDF, led by the Congress, had empirically maintained dominance in the Pathanamthitta region in Kerala. However, the alliance's support base declined evidently in the previous decade.

However, the Congress-led UDF alliance banking on the Sabarimala protests in 2018, regained their prominence, further leading to retaining the Congress bastion in Kerala since 2019. On Friday, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal announced that he will contest from Alappuzha in Kerala. The Congress announcement comes a day after the Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC) finalised the names for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after discussing over 60 Lok Sabha seats from 11 states and union territories.