In a dramatic political and legal twist, former Kerala transport minister and Janadhipathya Kerala Congress leader Antony Raju has been disqualified from contesting the 2026 state assembly elections. This comes after a Nedumangad judicial first class magistrate court sentenced him to three years of imprisonment in a two-decade-old case related to allegations of evidence tampering.
Court Verdict and Immediate Disqualification
The court's ruling has triggered an automatic disqualification under the Representation of the People Act. Legal experts clarify that any legislator sentenced to more than two years in prison stands disqualified immediately, regardless of whether they obtain a stay on the conviction from a higher court. This interpretation is based on a clear Supreme Court ruling.
Consequently, Raju is set to lose his current MLA status. The assembly secretariat is expected to issue a formal directive to this effect after seeking a final legal opinion. Experts note that even if Raju appeals the verdict, the disqualification will remain in force unless the conviction itself is overturned by a higher judiciary.
A Long-Standing Political Saga
The case has its roots in 2005. Its revival now has significant political implications. Raju was first denied an assembly ticket in 2006 over this very pending criminal case. Then opposition leader V S Achuthanandan had strongly objected to his candidature. As a result, the Kerala Congress (Joseph) party replaced Raju with V Surendra Pillai as its candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram West constituency. Pillai later became a minister in the Achuthanandan-led LDF cabinet.
Raju's electoral journey has seen many ups and downs. He first contested from Thiruvananthapuram West in 1991 as a KC(J) candidate but lost. He won for the first time in 1996, faced defeat again in 2001, and was denied a ticket in both 2006 and 2011. He contested unsuccessfully in 2016 on a Janathipathya Kerala Congress ticket, losing to Congress's V S Sivakumar. He finally made a comeback in 2021, defeating Sivakumar and becoming the state's transport minister.
Raju's Defence and Political Future
Antony Raju has vehemently denied the charges, terming the case politically motivated. He claimed the case was revived for political reasons and asserted his consistent attendance in court. "Even innocent people are sometimes punished by courts, and the law should take its course," Raju stated after the verdict.
However, the legal framework leaves him with limited immediate options. His political future now hinges entirely on a successful appeal where the conviction is set aside. Until then, he remains barred from contesting any future elections, marking a stark fall for the veteran leader nearly twenty years after the case first altered his political trajectory.
