Hibi Eden Vying For Second Term To Retain Congress's Traditional Citadel Ernakulam (Photo on X Hibi Eden @HibiEden )
Born in 1983, Hibi George Eden, the son of the late congress politician George Eden embarked on political activities, becoming the general secretary of the Congress student union, Kerala Student Union (KSU) at Sacred Heart College in Thevara, Ernakulam. Congress has re-nominated the youth leader from Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency for the second term for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Hibi Eden first tried his electoral luck in the 2011 assembly elections and secured victory, becoming the youngest MLA at the age of 28. In 2016, he was re-elected to the state assembly from Ernakulam constituency for the second time. Considering the cemented political clout of the youth leader, he was given his first Lok Sabha ticket in the 2019 general election from Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency while serving as an MLA. He was successfully elected with a majority of 1,69,053 votes in the elections in the traditional Congress fortress.
The constituency has seen decades of Congress dominance and it was in 1967 that the CPM candidate V. Viswanatha Menon last got elected from the Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency. Notably, the BJP is still finding its way in the constituency as it was pushed to the distant third in 2019, accumulating a meagre 14 per cent votes share from the constituency.
As a Congress citadel, workers in the constituency had begun campaigning for Hibe Eden even before the announcement of his name. Recently, the MP claimed that during his five-year tenure, he could stand to protect the country’s pluralism and secularism while trying to highlight the people’s burning issues in the Parliament. Notably, the 40-year-old has 81 attendances in the parliament. He has participated in 61 debates and posted a total of 318 questions. The Ernakulam MP has also introduced nine private bills in the parliament.
However, with the Congress re-nominating him for the second term, the party has put confidence in the sitting MP to retain its stronghold.
