Shashi Tharoor clinches fourth term from Thiruvananthapuram, BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar concedes
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In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has secured his fourth consecutive term representing Thiruvananthapuram.
His rival, BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar, conceded defeat, marking yet another significant victory for Tharoor.
Tharoor has a margin of 16077 votes.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his gratitude towards the voters and party workers for their support throughout the 51-day campaign. He stated, "This is not the end of a campaign but the beginning of a new chapter and partnership for all of us and our shared vision for a better tomorrow for Ananthapur(am)."
By 5 pm, Tharoor had established a lead of over 15,000 votes after initially trailing behind Chandrasekhar. This outcome contradicted exit polls, which had predicted a victory for Chandrasekhar.
Shashi Tharoor's track record in Thiruvananthapuram is notable. In 2009, he defeated CPI's P Ramachandran Nair by nearly one lakh votes. In the 2014 elections, he narrowly beat BJP's O Rajagopal by less than 16,000 votes. The 2019 elections saw a more decisive victory with Tharoor defeating BJP's K Rajasekharan by one lakh votes.
Earlier in the campaign, Tharoor had criticized the strategy of the ruling Left Front, an ally of the Congress-led INDIA bloc but a rival in Kerala.
He acknowledged that long-standing political differences could lead to alliances in one state and rivalries in another. Speaking to NDTV after casting his vote, Tharoor emphasized that both the Left and Congress were united against the BJP on the national stage. "When we are fighting an election to change the government in Delhi... this is a national election. The objective is to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party," he said.
Tharoor's comments referred to the CPI, which is part of the INDIA bloc but fielded its own candidate against him and Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad. Despite this, Tharoor downplayed any rift within the alliance, noting that state-specific political dynamics often result in such situations.
In addition to his electoral victory, Tharoor addressed the controversy surrounding Chandrasekhar's poll affidavit, which reported a taxable income of only ₹680 for FY2021/22. The Congress had lodged a complaint with the Election Commission regarding this discrepancy. Chandrasekhar attributed the low income to partnership losses during the COVID-19 period and dismissed the complaint as a distraction from the main issues of progress, development, jobs, and investments. He also took the opportunity to criticize the Congress' leadership and Tharoor himself.