Chennai, March 27 (IANS): Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan is in a close contest against his Congress rival in Tamil Nadu's Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency which he had won in 2014 but lost in 2019 and the 2021 by-elections.

Considered a grassroots politician who had built the BJP from the ground, he will face sitting Congress MP Vijay Vasanth who had defeated him in the 2021 by-elections by a margin of 1,37,950 votes. The by-election was necessitated following the death of sitting MP H. Vasanthakumar, the father of Vijay Vasanth.

Basillion Naraseth of the AIADMK is also in the race.

In the 2019 general elections, Radhakrishnan lost to Vasanthakumar by a margin of 2,59,993 votes.

He had beaten Vasanthakumar by a margin of 1,28,662 votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha seat consists of Kanniyakumari, Nagercoil, Vilavancode, Colachel, Padmanabhapuram, and Killiyoor Assembly seats. Of them, Kanniyakumari is with the AIADMK, Nagerocoil with the BJP, Colachel and Killiyoor with the Congress, Padmanabhapuram is with the DMK, and the Vilavancode seat is vacant after sitting MLA Vijayadharini resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP.

The by-election will take place along with the Lok Sabha polls.

This indicates that the DMK-Congress alliance is stronger in the area with more seats in its kitty while one seat is with AIADMK and the other with the BJP.

Talking to IANS, Kanniyakumari-based Centre For Research in Voting Trends Director R.S.Paulson said: "While arithmetics seems to favour Vijay Vasanth, Pon Radhakrishnan is a hugely popular leader in this region and he can alter the course of the election given his local reach and connect and the popularity of Narendra Modi government. The chances are equal for both the candidates but the AIADMK candidate will have to sweat it out."

With Radhakrishnan being projected as a Union Minister in the next Narendra Modi government, it remains to be seen if this will sway the voters.