Pathanamthitta LS seat: Congress tries to hold on as CPI(M), BJP try to snatch it
Congress striving to maintain its hold, while the BJP and CPI(M) are aggressively vying to secure the key southern seat.
With Anto Antony as its candidate, the Congress is banking on its success from the previous election, aiming to replicate its performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
On the opposing front, the BJP has nominated its national secretary Anil K Antony, son of Congress stalwart and former Union minister A K Antony, whose candidacy received a significant boost with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the southern district on March 15, rallying behind him.
Anil, whose nomination has not sat well with many in the saffron party's local leadership including its newest member and veteran politician P C George who had purportedly entertained hopes of being fielded from this southern Kerala constituency, is confident of a win.
«People have told me that of the three candidates contesting from here, I am the most suitable,» he said.
The ruling CPI(M)-led LDF is pinning its hopes on former state Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac, leveraging his political clout in the state and past cabinet experience in the previous two LDF governments to sway voters in their favour.
All three candidates hail from the Christian community which constitutes a significant nearly 40 per cent of the total population of the district.
The importance given to the Christian community was also evident during the PM's recent party programme here when Modi reached out to them by recounting his meeting with Pope Francis at the
