Congress ex-MP's son defeats BJP's Pon Radhakrishnan in Kanyakumari

The Congress retained the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat with its candidate Vijay Vasanth winning the bypoll by a margin of over one lakh votes against his nearest rival and former Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan.

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of Congress veteran H Vasantha Kumar last year due to COVID-19.

Vasantha Kumar's son Vijayakumar alias Vijay Vasanth was pitted against BJP veteran Pon Radhakrishnan who had earlier won from this constituency in 2014.

According to the Election Commission website, Vijay Vasanth won by securing 5,76,037 votes of the total votes polled in the constituency.

The winning margin for the Congress candidate was 1,37,950 votes.

The senior BJP leader managed to secure 4,38,087 votes and the EC said.

Vijay Vasanth bagged 52.5 per cent of the votes while Radhakrishnan garnered 39.92 per cent.

Following his victory, Vijay Vasanth took to Twitter to extend his gratitude saying he was 'overwhelmed' and appealed to his friends and supporters 'not to indulge in celebrations and help those in need' due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Kanyakumari, your love for me and my father has overwhelmed me today," he said.

"I urge all my friends and supporters to stay indoors, not indulge in any public celebrations and prepare to hit ground to help those in need. Together we stand, thank you all once again," he said.

The bypoll for the Kanyakumari parliamentary constituency was held along with the Tamil Nadu assembly elections on April 6.