All eyes on Ananthapuri

If a BJP candidate wins the constituency, it will be written in the history of the constituency with golden letters.

Not may know that Thiruvananthapuram, popularly known as Trivandrum, has another interesting name called ‘Ananthapuri’. The name has its roots on its spiritual connection with the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, located in the heart of the city. The name itself is enough to prove how close the people of Ananthapuri to the Lord of Ananthapuri, ‘Ananthan’ – that is the Lord Vishnu.

Traditionally, the constituency is a stronghold of Congress. Yet, the communist parties, including the CPI and the CPI (M), have significant presence in the constituency.

Actually, it is not what makes the constituency the point of attraction. It is the growth of saffron parties that increase the significance of the constituency.

In the last General Election, the BJP arrived to the position of close second in the constituency. That growth stunned both the leftists and the centrists alike.

Like many other constituencies, the caste and religious equations play a prominent role in this constituency.

In the history of the constituency, not many outside the two prime caste groups have received the chance to represent the constituency.

This time, the prime competition is between Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor, who is a former central minister and is the sitting Member of Parliament from the constituency, and BJP candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan, who is a former Governor and is a former state president of the BJP.

Notably, both the candidates belong to one of the aforesaid caste groups. A prominent organisation represents the caste group is said to be in favour of the BJP candidate. It means that the BJP candidate is likely to win most of the votes of this caste group. To counter this, what the Congress tries is to expand its appear towards the other prominent caste group and all those sectors who are unhappy with the rise of the saffron faction.

The third candidate is actually the deciding factor. It is very crucial how many votes the candidate can secure. The third prominent candidate is CPI leader C Divakaran, the candidate who represents the Left Democratic Front, which include the CPM and CPI.

Both the Congress and the BJP fear the possible leakage from the left front. If such a leakage happens, the winner will be the recipient of that leakage.

Mr Divakaran is a powerful candidate. His candidature means the possibility of leakage from the left camp is not very high.

The people of the constituency are very conservatives, unlike their counterparts in the Northern Kerala from where the majority of the prominent leaders of the prime leftist party hail.

There is a strong feeling among a sector of the conservative south that those who could not understand their traditions and customs have done injustice to them by attempting to distort their beliefs for the sake of the victory of a political party which openly disrespect the idea of traditional belief system.

All recent surveys predict that the BJP candidate has a slight advantage over the others. The survey indicates that the leakages will happen from both the Congress and CPM towards the BJP.

If a BJP candidate wins the constituency, it will be written in the history of the constituency with golden letters. Not any time in the history of the constituency that a saffron leader has ever wristed the seat, though many times in the past the saffron leaders have occupied the close second position.

Vignesh. S. G
Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright