Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar is currently ahead in the race for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, while seasoned Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is trailing in his stronghold. Chandrasekhar has established a lead of 13,336 votes over Tharoor, according to the latest updates.
According to the latest data from the Election Commission of India, Rajeev Chandrasekhar has received 147,312 votes, while Shashi Tharoor has garnered 131,696 votes. In Kerala, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is leading in 16 out of 20 seats, with the BJP ahead in Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram. Should the BJP maintain its lead, it would mark the party’s first-ever Lok Sabha seat victory in the state.
Nationwide trends for 542 Lok Sabha seats indicate that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is surpassing the halfway mark, with the BJP leading in 238 seats and having secured one seat. The NDA is currently leading in 295 seats, as reported by the Election Commission.
Earlier, on Monday, following exit polls predicting a third consecutive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor dismissed the predictions as laughable, asserting that the INDIA bloc would secure 295 seats.
“We view the exit polls with skepticism and disbelief because we’ve been campaigning across the country and have a sense of the public pulse, which we believe these polls do not accurately reflect. Our Congress president, after consulting with all INDIA bloc members, is convinced that we will secure around 295 seats for the alliance. I stand by that number,” Tharoor told reporters on Monday.
Tharoor also noted that despite Thiruvananthapuram being the BJP’s strongest constituency in Kerala, where they have placed second in the past two elections, the likelihood of them winning remains slim. “We have thoroughly assessed the situation and found no BJP wave,” he said.
