Antony Raju

Antony Raju Biography

Antony Raju is an Indian politician associated with the regional party of Kerala, Kerala Congress. He is a prominent figure of Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, a sub-division of Kerala Congress. In 1996 when LDF was formed, he defeated prominent congress leader M. M. Hassan from Thiruvananthapuram West Constituency, which was then considered as a remarkable win. In 2016 he contested state assembly elections from Thiruvananthapuram constituency representing Kerala Congress Democratic Party and was defeated by V. S. Sivakumar of Indian National Congress. The third contestant was former cricketer   S. Sreesanth who represented Bharatiya Janata Party.

He hails from Poonthura of Thiruvananthapuram district. He currently resides in Nanthancode of Thiruvananthapuram city. He was born on 18 November 1954 as the son of S. Alphonse. His early education was done at Poonthura and school education was completed from Kalamassery. He completed graduation in Economics from Mar Ivanious College, Thiruvananthapuram and LLB from Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram in the year 1982. He is married to Gracy Raju and the couple has two children. Former Left Front MLA, he has been associated with politics since his school and college days.

He entered politics in the year 1972 through KSC, the student wing of Kerala Congress and he served as Unit President of KSC at St. Xavier’s College, Thumba while doing pre-degree course. Some of the prominent positions held by him include - Syndicate member of University of Kerala, Chairman of Handicrafts Development Corporation and Chairman of Travancore Cements Ltd. President of Kerala Congress District Committee, State General Secretary of Kerala Congress and Member, District Council, Thiruvananthapuram are the major positions held by him in the party.

He was among the first contestants who got elected to state assembly representing the newly formed Left Democratic Front (Kerala) in the year 1996. He surprised everyone defating senior leader of congress, M. M. Hassan. He represented Democratic Kerala Congress (Francis George) faction in 2016 state assembly elections and couldn’t win a seat.

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Updated: May 29, 2016