Anil Antony's defeat in Pathanamthitta LS seat due to his poor voter connect: BJP's P C George

Pathanamthitta (Kerala), Jun 6 (PTI) BJP leader P C George on Thursday said that one of the many reasons behind the defeat of party colleague Anil K Antony, son of Congress stalwart A K Antony, from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat was because he could not connect with the voters like his rivals did.

George said that Anil Antony did not speak Malayalam properly and had no connections with anyone in Pathanamthitta, while his rivals -- Congress's Anto Antony and CPI(M)'s Thomas Isaac -- were a three-time sitting MP and a former Kerala finance minister, respectively.

Due to these reasons, in Pathanamthitta the party was unable to make use of the pro-BJP wave among the Christian community in the state.

"There is no point talking about it now though," he added.

The BJP leader claimed that Christians voted for the party everywhere else in the state, except in Thiruvananthapuram where the Latin church community voted against them.

For the future, George said that if all the leaders of BJP in Kerala come together and fight, the party will be able to get more than 30 seats in the 2026 state assembly elections.

George had initially expressed his reservation over Anil's candidature from Pathanamthitta.

Anil Antony came third in Pathanamthitta behind Thomas Isaac and Anto Antony who won from here for a fourth time. PTI HMP HMP ANE