Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha Seat To Witness Triangular Contest

Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency will witness a triangular contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

While the BJP has fielded Pon Radhakrishnan, the Congress has given ticket to sitting MP Vijay Vasanth and the AIADMK to Nazareth Pasilian.

Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency comprises six assembly segments: Kanniyakumari, Nagercoil, Colachal, Padmanabhapuram, Vilavancode and Killiyoor.

The constituency was formed in 2009 and DMK's J Helen Davidson had defeated the BJP's Pon Radhakrishnan by 65,687 votes.

Five years later, Pon Radhakrishnan created history by winning the seat for the BJP. This was the lone seat for the saffron party in the 2014 general elections.

He defeated Congress candidate H Vasanthakumar by 1,28,662 votes. In 2019, the Congress candidate turned the tables by defeating the same BJP candidate by 2,59,933 votes.

Following the demise of H Vasanthakumar, Congress fielded his son Vijay Vasanth who defeated Pon Radhakrishnan by 1,37,950 in 2021 byelection.

Since the Kanniyakumari seat came into existence, Pon Radhakrishnan has represented the BJP in all the Lok Sabha elections. The DMK and BJP have each secured victory once, while the Congress has clinched the seat twice.

The constituency comprises 51 per cent Christians and Muslims combined. While caste considerations are minor, religion plays a significant role and the fishing community plays a deciding factor.

This time, all three parties have a fair chance of winning the seat, as per political pundits.In the current electoral landscape, with ambitious goals in Tamil Nadu, the BJP aims to reclaim the seat. As per the surveys, the saffron party's vote share, which was a little over 3 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, is expected to cross 18 per cent.

Some pre-poll surveys have indicated that it is likely to perform better than the AIADMK.