Lok Sabha Election Results 2024: Congress’ Shashi Tharoor defeats Rajeev Chandrasekhar of BJP in Thiruvananthapuram

Veteran Congress leader Shashi Tharoor defeated Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar with a margin of 16,077 votes on Tuesday in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat in Kerala.

“It is disappointing given that we worked very hard….We ran a very positive campaign….3.4 lakh people supported us which is a record number….I believe we are on the right track….I am disappointed that I could not win…My commitment to Thiruvananthapuram and people of Thiruvananthapuram remains steadfast….”, the ANI quoted Chandrasekhar as saying.

During the initial hours of counting, Chandrasekhar and Tharoor were neck-and-neck, with each taking a lead of a few thousand votes. By evening, the BJP leader gained a healthy lead of around 24,000 votes; however, more than an hour later, Tharoor took the lead from Chandrasekhar. The BJP candidate secured 3,42,078 votes.

In Kerala, the Congress leads at 14 seats, and IUML at two and CPI(M) at 1 seat. The BJP has also now secured leads in one constituency: Thrissur, with a margin of 74,840. If the BJP holds on to their leads, it will mark the first 

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Earlier, on Monday, after the exit polls predicted a third straight win for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, Tharoor said the polls were laughable, asserting that the INDIA bloc would get 295 seats.

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"We are seeing it with scepticism and disbelief because we have also been campaigning throughout the country. We also have a sense of what the pulse of the people is and we don't believe it is reflected accurately in these polls. Our Congress president, after meeting all the INDIA bloc members, has said that he is convinced that we are getting about 295 for the alliance. I stick to that number," Tharoor told reporters on Monday.

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As per the early trends, the UDF is leading in 17 seats. The most-awaited result from Kerala would be in Thrissur, where BJP candidate Suresh Gopi, an actor-turned-politician, has been clearly maintaining a lead over rivals V S Sunil Kumar of the CPI and K Muraleedharan of the Congress. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi continued to lead in Wayanad by crossing a majority of 6,47,445 votes. Another Congress candidate, VK Sreekandan, is leading by a margin of 4,18,072 votes in the Palakkad LS constituency against CPI (M) A Vijayaraghavan.