Shashi Tharoor vs Rajeev Chandrasekhar: Battle for Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha Seat

Former Union Minister and Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat Shashi Tharoor (File). The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader faces controversy over his poll affidavit, in which he declared a taxable income of Rs 680 for FY2021/22, compared to Rs 17.5 lakh for FY20. Winning in a state that tends to view BJP’s politics unfavorably is crucial for him.

He expects “the politics of performance” to give him an edge and believes that the voters of Thiruvananthapuram would recognize the Congress and Shashi Tharoor had done nothing over the past 15 years. Mr Tharoor, with a hat-trick of wins behind him, exudes confidence. In 2019, he had his biggest win yet, polling over four lakh votes and more than 40 percent of the vote share.

This time the CPI has turned to 78-year-old veteran Pannyan Raveendran as their candidate. The choice of Mr Raveendran is to make a point to voters, as the Left leader is quite unlike his rivals despite being on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Thiruvananthapuram isn’t the only Kerala seat to feature an INDIA vs INDIA contest; in Wayanad the CPI has fielded Annie Raja against Mr Gandhi, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has nominated sitting Alappuzha MP AM Ariff against senior Congress leader KC Venugopal, who won this seat in 2014.

For the CPI, these seats are a litmus test, as it has been leaking votes over the past few elections. In 2019, the BJP got only one of these seats. In 2014 it got zero.