Modi guarantee turned unsuccessful; Anil Antony flies to Delhi after defeat

PATHANAMTHITTA: Pathanamthitta was the Lok Sabha constituency where the BJP central leadership directly decided the candidate like Thrissur. The central leadership chose Anil Antony, son of senior Congress leader A K Antony, to contest from Pathanamthitta. However, the BJP could not garner votes as expected.

Another blow for the BJP was fielding former minister Thomas Isaac of the LDF and congress fielding sitting MP Anto Antony in the constituency. The defeat of Anil Antony is paving way for new discussions. Anil said Pathanamthitta district unit is behind his defeat. The BJP leadership made Anil Antony the candidate in the hope of creating a rift in the Congress votes.

However, he could not create much movement amongst the people. Anil expected huge advancement in Pathanamthittal like in Thrissur, Attingal and Thiruvananthapuram constituencies. Anil had said that he would win with a majority of 30,000 to 50,000 votes till the eve of the election results.

Anil Antony could not even surpass the votes secured by K Surendran in this constituency in 2019. K Surendran secured 2,97,396 votes while Anil Antony got only 2,34,406 votes this time. After the defeat, Anil returned to Delhi without responding to the media.

Sources close to Anil agreed that the cooperation of the BJP district leadership turned negative. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived and campaigned for Anil Antony, he could not win or get more votes. Anil’s responses confirming victory after Modi’s campaigning, also backfired.