Raju was born on 18 November 1954 in Poonthura, Trivandrum to S Alphonse and T Lourdamma in a poor family from the fisher community.[3] He had his early education at the St. Thomas School Poonthura, Trivandrum, and completed his schooling at the Rajagiri School, Kalamassery, Ernakulam.[4] Raju was the unit president of Kerala Students' Congress (KSC), the students' wing of Kerala Congress, in St Xavier's College , Thumba, and Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram. After graduating in Law from the Kerala Law Academy Law College, he enrolled as an advocate in 1982.[3] He completed his pre-degree from St. Xavier's College, Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram.
In 1996, Antony Raju was KC(J) candidate and contested for LDF. It was Antony's first political victory in Assembly Election from Trivandrum West Constituency. However, in the 2016 elections he contested as Janadhipathya Kerala Congress candidate but lost to VS Sivakumar. But in the 2021 elections, he defeated VS Sivakumar by more than 8000 votes.The coastal region has been Raju's support base. He contested a poll for the first time from Shanghumugham division to the erstwhile district council. Shanghumugham is part of the Thiruvananthapuram Assembly constituency.
His first attempt to reach the Assembly went in vain as he lost to M M Hassan of the Congress in Thiruvananthapuram West in 1991. Raju exacted revenge the next time by defeating Hassan. However, he lost again in 2001, this time to M V Raghavan.
He was not fielded in the next two Assembly polls due to controversies over his legal career. In 2016, Raju of the Janadhipathya Kerala Congress lost to V S Sivakumar, but bounced back this time by defeating the same Congress leader.
