Congress nominates AK Antony for Rajya Sabha election from Kerala

A K Antony

Former Defence Minister A K Antony will be the Congress candidate from Kerala for Rajya Sabha elections to be held on March 21. For the Congress Working Committee member from Kerala, it would be the third consecutive term in the Upper House. He had been a member of the RS since 2005. Prior to that, Antony had been RS member from 1993 to 1995.

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Congress state president, V M Sudheeran, on Saturday said the party has decided to field Antony as the candidate for RS elections. Only his name would be recommended to the high command, said Sudheeran.

In Kerala, three RS seats are falling vacant this month. Of them, Congress can win from two seats and the CPI (M) from the third. The term of Antony and CPI (M)’s K N Balagopal and T N Seema would end this month.

While Congress has decided to allot one seat to Antony, another seat would go to JD(U) state president, M P Veerendra Kumar. Congress handed over its second seat to JD(U) in a bid to retain that party in the United Democratic Front. Kumar had a strained relation with Congress after he lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. A probe report had found that Congress spoiled his chances in Palakkad constituency.