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Shashi Tharoor wins in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram constituency by 16,077 votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor bounced back in Thiruvananthapuram to secure a comfortable lead against BJP candidate and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is eyeing a fourth consecutive term from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram constituency, staged a victory leading against BJP candidate and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, by a margin of 16,077 votes, the Election Commission of India website reported.
Tharoor secured 3,58,155 votes and Chandrasekhar secured 3,42,078 votes
Historically, the Thiruvananthapuram seat has swung between the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Congress party, until Tharoor secured a winning streak from 2009 to 2019.
However, in the last two Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged as a strong opponent, with its candidate O Rajagopal getting a vote share of 32.32% in 2014, and in 2019 Kummanam Rajasekharan bagged 31.3%.
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Tharoor, who joined politics in 2009 has held key positions at the United Nations, where he worked for three decades. He also served as Minister of State for External Affairs in the Manmohan Singh government.
In 2022, Tharoor contested the Congress presidential elections but lost to Mallikarjun Kharge.
Meanwhile, Chandrasekhar was first elected to the upper house of Parliament in 2006 as an independent member from Karnataka, with support from both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular).
He was re-elected in 2012 and 2018, the last being as a BJP candidate. Chandrasekhar also worked with Intel before returning to India in 1991. He founded BPL Mobile in 1994, a move that left a lasting mark on the country’s telecom industry.
The BJP has never won a Lok Sabha seat in Kerala. In the Assembly polls held in 2016, the party won its first-ever seat from the Nemom constituency after its veteran leader O Rajagopal defeated Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader V Sivankutty.
Read: How to check poll results on Election Commission's website on June 4? Here is a primer
Thiruvananthapuram constituency went to the polls in the second phase on April 26 and recorded a voter turnout of 66.46%, a considerable drop from the 73.45% recorded in 2019.
The Lok Sabha polls for 543 seats were conducted in seven phases, starting from April 19 and last phase on June 1. The Bharatiya Janata Party is aiming for a rare third consecutive term at the Centre, with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.
