LS POLLS

Thiruvananthapuram Election Results: After initial scare, Tharoor downs Chandrasekhar to win a fourth time

Thiruvananthapuram: After initial trends suggested a surprise victory for NDA candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar, sitting MP and UDF candidate Shashi Tharoor relied on his loyal voter base to fight back and win from Thiruvananthapuram a fourth time.

Tharoor's margin of victory -- 16,077 -- is not impressive, but still better than the 15,470 votes by which he defeated BJP veteran O Rajagopal in 2014. In the last General Elections in 2019, Tharoor's victory margin was 99,989 votes.

The LDF that fielded CPI leader Pannyan Raveendran to wrest the constituency from UDF's grip, secured 2,47,648 votes to finish third. For Kerala Lok Sabha Election 2024 results, click here.
The Manorama News-VMR exit poll had predicted a victory for UDF candidate and incumbent MP Shashi Tharoor with 37.86 per cent vote share in Thiruvananthapuram.

Despite Tharoor's repeated successes, Thiruvananthapuram with its temple culture and royal family obsession is considered saffron at heart. It is also said that RSS sympathisers make up a decisive chunk of Nair Service Society (NSS) members in the constituency; Nairs are the dominant sub-group in Thiruvananthapuram. If the BJP was still not able to chest the ribbon, Tharoor alone was the reason. His global image and educated charm have consistently transcended political affiliations. Even in 2014, the year the Modi wave swept across the country and Tharoor was battling charges of wife slaughter, the former UN under secretary general managed to sneak through; he was ahead by a slender margin of 15,450 votes.

In 2019, Tharoor exceeded his own expectations. He gave himself a victory margin of 30,000 but ended up with close to a lakh; his 99,989 margin was near similar to the 99,998 he achieved in his breakout victory in 2009. Tharoor's stature could also draw traditional Left votes to his kitty. Ever since he became the Congress candidate, the CPI vote share in Thiruvananthapuram had dwindled: 30.74% in 2009 (down by over 20%), 28.50% in 2014 and 25.60% in 2019.

With the fall of the CPI, the BJP took on the role of the challenger. In 2009, BJP was not a force to reckon with. However, in the subsequent two elections (2014 and 2019), at the height of Modi's popularity, Tharoor was pitted against two of the most respected names in Kerala's BJP: O Rajagopal, a former union minister, and Kummanam Rajasekharan, a man revered for his simplicity and his activism related to both right-wing and environmental causes. Tharoor's personality was strong enough to outclass them both.

Therefore, to bring in Rajeev Chandrasekhar as Tharoor's opponent in 2024 was a masterstroke. Chandrasekhar's cosmopolitan aura and his business successes nearly neutralised Tharoor's 'super achiever' magnetism. On top of it Chandrasekhar launched an aggressive development-themed campaign that caricatured Tharoor as a non-performer.

He also used his clout as a union minister to give the impression that he could provide quick solutions to long-pending issues like sea erosion. His campaign worked hard to draw support along the coast and southern regions of the constituency, areas where Tharoor enjoyed unquestionable support. In 2014, it were the coastal and southern areas of Kovalam, Parassala and Neyyatinkara that saved Tharoor; in the remaining four Assembly segments he had lost to Rajagopal.