India’s southern-most seat gears up for LS battle

In the southern most Lok Sabha constituency in the country, Kanyakumari, two national parties are set to witness an intense battle between two sons of the soil with incumbent Vijayakumar Vasanth of the Congress (in alliance with Dravida Munnetra Kazagham) and two-term MP Pon Radhakrishnan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The AIADMK which split from the BJP last September has fielded a fisherman Basilion Nasareth in the constituency which has a coastline of 71km. It is one of the few constituencies in Tamil Nadu where Dravidian parties have ruled since 1967, both the BJP and Congress have a base of their own.
A BJP campaign vehicle trudging along narrow lanes that slide down to the beach, blared a recorded message seeking votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and for the development projects implemented by Radhakrishnan while he was Union minister of state of shipping between 2014 and 2019. The incumbent Congress candidate too is hoping to bank on development projects such as work which was expedited for a four lane road infrastructure project and a railway doubling project.
Though development is central to voters here, they also speak of religious affinities closely linked to the voting pattern. Vasanth and Radhakrishnan are both Hindus belonging to the Nadar community that is dominant in Kanyakumari. While Vasanth is expected to receive the support of minority Christians who make up 42% (to be confirmed) in the constituency and Muslims about 3.4%, Radhakrishnan finds favour among the remaining Hindu population.
“I’m a Hindu so I will vote for the BJP,” says a voter P Samutharapandi. When asked why his vote wouldn’t be for the Congress candidate who is also Hindu, he said, “Because only BJP will protect Hindus.” Vasanth is facing support and anti-incumbency among a cross section of voters. “I think he has done well. His (late) father was also very good,” she says, adding that her vote will be either for the Congress or Tamil nationalist S Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Katchi who has fielded M Jennifer. “I like Seeman because he is a good change for an alternative. But my family doesn’t want the anti-BJP votes to split.”
A religious divide here between the Hindus and Christians has been chronicled to date back to the first half the 16th century when 20,000 fishermen were said to be converted which also saw many from the Nadar community turning to Christianity. The Kanyakumari area was also part of the southern districts in Tamil Nadu that experienced religious mobilisation in the early 1980s.
Both the national party candidates have a history in the constituency. H Vasanthakumar, the owner of one of the largest home appliances group of Tamil Nadu, Vasanth and Co won the seat representing the Congress in the 2019 general elections with close to a 60% vote share. Radhakrishnan, known locally as Ponnar, was the runner up lagging behind in more than 250,000 votes. In the previous election their fortunes were in reverse. Radhakrishnan, had won the seat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections against Vasanthakumar–the only seat the BJP won in Tamil Nadu in that election.
After Vasanthakumar died of Covid19 in 2020, a by-election for Kanyakumari was conducted that year alongside the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu which was contested by his son and political novice Vijay Vasanth who with a 52.5% voteshare secured a comfortable victory against Radhakrishnan.
Kanyakumari has been BJP’s best performance so far in Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu. BJP has maintained a steady vote share there irrespective of whether it was or wasn’t in an alliance with AIADMK or even other local allies. From the 2009 general elections until the 2021 by-elections which Radhakrishnan has contested, he has hovered between a voteshare of 33% to 39.9% irrespective of whether he won or lost the seat.
In 2019, the BJP was with the AIADMK making the seat a bipolar contest. In 2014 the national party had tied up smaller regional parties and the Dravidian major contested all seats on its own making it a three-cornered contest much like now. This constituency also has an assembly by election in Vilavancode which was left vacant after sitting MLA Vijayadharani quit to join the BJP in February.