Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat to face by-polls in November

By-elections to Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency, which has fallen vacant following the death of its member H Vasanthakumar, is likely to be held in October-November along with the Assembly elections in Bihar.

The Lok Sabha secretariat on Friday announced Kanyakumari seat as vacant, exactly a week after Vasanthakumar, also a successful businessman, breathed his last.

The Election Commission is likely to hold by-elections to the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat and over 60 Assembly constituencies in various states that are vacant along with the assembly polls in Bihar in October-November.

Vasanthakumar, a two-time Congress MLA, was elected in 2019 after defeating former Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan by a huge margin. The by-election is likely to bring the Congress and the BJP for a face-off yet again in Kanyakumari constituency.

The BJP had won the seat in 2014 elections, pushing the Congress and AIADMK to the second and third positions. Jockeying for candidates have already begun in the BJP with its leader Nainar Nagendran expressing interest in contesting the by-elections.

The Congress is likely to contest the by-elections as the Kanyakumari seat was allotted to the party during the 2019 polls. Since the bypolls are likely to be held in October-November, the results could indicate which way the political wind is blowing in Tamil Nadu, which will face assembly polls in the first half of 2021.