Can Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the BJP challenge Shashi Tharoor’s hegemony in Thiruvananthapuram in the 2024 Lok Sabha Election?
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar held a bike rally on Monday to launch his campaign as the BJP’s nominee in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. With Chandrasekhar’s arrival, the BJP, Congress, and the CPM-led LDF are now competing in a triangle for the coveted Thiruvananthapuram seat in the 2018 Lok Sabha elections.
Senior Congressman and former Union minister Shashi Tharoor defeated BJP candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 99,989 votes in the 2019 general elections. Since 2009, Tharoor has been the victor in Thiruvananthapuram. The Congress is also expected to designate the leader of the House for a fourth term.
Remarkably, Pannyan Raveendran, the head of the CPI, has been fielded by the CPM-led LDF from the seat. The seat had been won by Raveendran in 2005. There are twenty Lok Sabha (parliamentary) seats in Kerala, including Thiruvananthapuram. With 18 candidates running in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, this seat had a voter turnout of 73.38 percent.
Both Chandrasekhar,59, and Tharoor,67, are eloquent leaders with a range of accomplishments in their areas. In the meanwhile, 78-year-old Raveendran has been projecting an image of weakness.
The Indian Express said that the BJP is certain that it has a candidate who is capable of competing with Tharoor’s caliber. The party’s goal in the Lok Sabha 2024 elections is to get 370 seats.
Both Tharoor and Chandrasekhar handle difficult international situations with admirable poise. Since July 2021, Chandrashekhar has served as the Minister of State for IT and Skill Development. He also has business sector experience. In addition, he has experience as a technological entrepreneur in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
The BJP claims that Chandrasekhar is their greatest option for Thiruvananthapuram, a middle-class electorate with high aspirations. The constituency has an 84.37% literacy rate.
In contrast, Tharoor is one of the most well-liked Congressmen in Kerala. In October 2022, the former UN official ran unsuccessfully for Congress president, although his popularity did not decline. In addition, he managed to hold onto his seat in the 2014 elections despite facing one of his worst trials after the passing of his wife, Sunanda Pushkar.
While Tharoor is certain that his experience as an MP, which dates back to 2009, will be his greatest advantage in this election as well, he told IE that he won’t take any election for granted.
The LDF candidate, Raveendran, has a commoner’s appearance. The LDF candidate is from a backward group, unlike Tharoor and Chandrasekhar, who are both upper-caste Nairs.
Kerala has never seen a Lok Sabha seat won by the BJP. The party only prevailed once in the Thiruvananthapuram district’s Nemam Assembly elections, where O Rajagopal had triumphed in 2016. Kummanam Rajasekharan, a member of the BJP, received 31.3 percent of the vote in the 2019 elections, the most of any candidate in the state’s 20 Lok Sabha seats.
A politically engaged minister in the Modi government, Chandrasekhar is a part of the BJP’s plan to gain ground in Kerala, where it was unable to get any seats in the Lok Sabha elections 2019. Furthermore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the state’s objective of reaching a two-digit number during one of his most recent trips to Kerala.
In December of last year, Tharoor made a suggestion that he would run for the Thiruvananthapuram seat in the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The Congress party has yet to release its slate of contenders.
The dates of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections are probably going to be revealed after the Indian Election Commission wraps up its tour of all states to assess election readiness on March 13. Voting for the first phase of the seven-part 2019 elections took place in the second week of April.
