Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency, earlier called Nagercoil, will witness a byelection, after a gap of over 50 years, following the recent death of Congress working-president H. Vasanthakumar, who had tested positive for COVID-19. The Election Commission of India is yet to announce the date for the bypoll.
The last time the constituency faced a byelection was in January 1969. The byelection became notable for a variety of reasons such as the electoral comeback of former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj, who had tasted a stunning defeat in Virudhunagar during the 1967 Assembly polls, and violent clashes between volunteers of the Congress and the DMK.
‘A terrible election’
“That was a terrible election,” recalled B.S. Gnanadesikan, senior vice-president of the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) and who, as a college student, worked for Kamaraj.
The situation in the constituency turned so tense that Superintendent of Police S. Dayasankar went on medical leave a few days before the day of polling (January 8, 1969) and the then Chief Election Commissioner, S.P. Sen Verma, and Inspector General of Police (which was the ultimate rank in the State police then) R.M. Mahadevan camped in Nagercoil to oversee the election.
A record turnout of 78.6% was registered. Kamaraj won by a comfortable margin of 1.28 lakh votes over his nearest rival and Swatantara party’s functionary, M. Mathias, who contested as an independent candidate with the DMK’s support. As the then Chief Minister, C.N. Annadurai, was suffering from cancer, Public Works Minister M. Karunanidhi had taken charge of the campaign of his party’s ally.
Ever since Kanniyakumari became a part of Tamil Nadu in 1956, the constituency has generally returned candidates belonging to the Congress family of parties or those backed by the Congress.
Only on two occasions — 1999 and 2014 — did the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Pon Radhakrishnan emerge victorious amid intense multi-cornered contests.
Alluding to the population mix of the district (where Hindus, according to the 2017 district statistical handbook, account for about 51% of the population and Christians, around 44%), H. Raja, senior BJP leader and former prabhari (in-charge) of the district in the 1990s, asserted that the factor of religion had been the principal feature of politics in the area.
“We had faced defeat when votes of the Hindus got divided,” he observed. He contended that in 2019, voters “got carried away” by the campaign of the Opposition, which harped on the theme that Narendra Modi would not become Prime Minister again, apart from making several “tempting promises”.
However, he is hopeful of his party’s success this time, as “no such trick” will work any longer.
Communal polarisation
A senior Congress leader, who hails from the southern belt, conceded that communal polarisation in the electoral sense was a “fact of life” in Kanniyakumari and this happened only after the entry of the BJP.
The “consolidation of minorities”, especially Christians, has happened as “a result of intensified activity” of the RSS and the BJP in the district.
The Congress’ “consistent victory” has to be viewed as a “reflection” of the anti-BJP trend, he added.
