Shashi Tharoor Defeats BJP's Rajeev Chandrashekhar In Thiruvananthapuram 

“Thank you, the voters of Thiruvananthapuram, for once again placing your trust in me to represent you. I will discharge this responsibility with honesty and commitment. This victory is not just mine, but it is a victory for the forces of democracy, communal harmony and social justice,” writes Shashi Tharoor after securing victory for the fourth consecutive time from his sitting seat Thiruvananthapuram amid intense three-cornered battle.

The Congress heavyweight Shashi Tharoor has won the the seat, pushing the BJP candidate and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar to the second position.

Notably, the early trends showed the BJP leader making surprising lead of over 20,000 margin. The Thiruvananthapuram MP faced fierce challenge by the NDA candidate and Union Minister from his sitting constituency. However, Shashi Tharoor later retained the lead and won his  for the fourth consecutive term by a majority of 16077 votes.

Thiruvananthapuram was one Kerala’s hottest political seats in as the seat witnessed a triangular fight between Congress, BJP, and CPI candidates. The LDF’s Pannyan Raveendran also gained lead somewhere during the counting.

The CPM had fielded its firebrand leader Pannyan Raveendran, the veteran leader and former Thiruvananthapuram MP.  Notably, the seat was one of the BJP’s major prospects in the state, with the saffron party fielding the Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar, it hoped to open another account in the state.

The seat was the sole constituency in the state where the BJP reached closer to victory margin in the past election. In the 2014 general elections, pushing CPI behind, the BJP became the runner-up, trailing behind Shashi Tharoor only by just two percentage votes.

Shashi Tharor, who was challenged by the BJP’s O Rajagopal in 2014 had managed to get over one lakh majority in 2019 when the then state chief of the saffron party Kummanam Rajasekharan was contesting.

However, the saffron party has opened its first seat in Thrissur, with actor-politician Suresh Gopi emerging victorious from the constituency by over 70,000 vote margin.