Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha elections 2024: Voting date, results, candidates, main parties and schedule

File photo of Shashi Tharoor

The capital of Kerala, its most populous city, Thiruvananthapuram, formerly Trivandrum, is situated in the southernmost part of the mainland on the west coast of India. Seven assembly seats: Thiruvananthapuram, Kazhakuttom, Vattiyoorkavu, Nemom, Kovalam, Neyyattinkara, and Parassala make up the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency.

The constituency first voted in the General Elections in 1951 choosing Independent candidate Annie Mascarene. After that, the seat has been a stronghold of the India National Congress.

Shashi Tharoor of the Indian National Congress is the sitting MP from this seat, having won it on three previous occasions. In the 2009 elections, Tharoor received 326,725 votes, defeating the CPM candidate P Ramachandran Nair who won only 226,727 votes.

The 2014 elections saw Tharoor winning again, though with a lesser margin. Tharoor got 297,806 votes, while the BJP candidate O Rajagopal won 282,336 votes. CPI candidate Bennet Abraham polled 248,941 votes.

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections saw Shashi Tharoor securing a hat-trick when he won with 416,131 votes. Kummanam Rajashekharan of the BJP came in second with 316,142 votes.

This time, the Bharatiya Janata Party is leaving no stone unturned to not only win Thiruvananthapuram, but also make inroads into Kerala, a feat that has till now, eluded the party. It has fielded three-time member of the Rajya Sabha, Union minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, as its candidate from Thiruvananthapuram.

The Thiruvananthapuram constituency is seeing a three-way confrontation with the CPI fielding Panniyan Raveendran. While the Congress and the CPI are allied at the national level as part of the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc, in Kerala the two parties are opposing each other, as part of the rival state blocs – the Congress being a part of United Democratic Front (UDF) and CPI aligning with Left Democratic Front (LDF).

With a strong anti-incumbency undercurrent prevailing against Shashi Tharoor, Chandrasekhar is participating in like seminars, meetings with people, door to door campaigns and press conferences to win hearts and minds in the Hindu-dominated constituency.