A look at some of the star candidates and their performance in the polls
Our Bureau
New Delhi
After a neck-and-neck fight, Congress incumbent MP Shashi Tharoor has won Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat against BJP’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar for a record fourth term. In the early trends, BJP’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar was leading by over 20,000 votes. However, Tharoor later gained the lead, according to ECI data.
The Congress incumbent MP won the seat by a margin of over 16,077 votes. Tharoor said that the BJP put up an enormous fight and described it as a super over condition.
“This is a blessing for the fourth time, and I will do my best to be worthy of that trust to serve them well. The world T20 is going on, but the super over was here. The BJP put up an enormous fight. One important message from Suresh Gopi in Thrissur is that his systematic outreach to minority communities. It is a very strong message to the BJP that a communal campaign won’t go very far in Kerala,” Tharoor said.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar expressed his disappointment over the loss but affirmed his commitment to the people of Thiruvananthapuram.
Congress leader Tharoor has maintained a winning streak from 2009 to 2019 in this seat.
In Amethi, Congress’ KL Sharma defeated BJP leader Smriti Irani who said on Tuesday that she gave 10 years of her life to Amethi and will continue to serve the area in times to come. “I express my gratitude to all the BJP party workers and supporters, those who have worked in the service of the constituency and the party with dedication and loyalty. Today, I am grateful to PM Narendra Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath that their governments have completed the pending works of 30 years in just 5 years. I congratulate those who win. I will continue to be in the service of the people of Amethi,” Irani said at a press conference.
“We will strengthen the organization. We are the ones who have served the area with devotion. I went to every village in the area and worked. I gave 10 years of my life to this area,” she added.
KL Sharma, the long associate of the Gandhi family was given the responsibility of winning back the party’s once-held bastion. “This is the victory of the Gandhi family and the people of Amethi…the counting is still taking place, so I won’t call it a victory now,” Sharma told ANI earlier. Sharma has got 5,36,680 votes while Smriti Irani has got 3,70,754.
Meanwhile in Punjab, as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was leading on the Bathinda seat, party leader and candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal thanked the party workers, saying that the victory belongs to the people of the constituency. “I want to thank my party workers who worked hard day and night. This victory belongs to the people of Bathinda who gave me an opportunity to serve them”, Badal said while speaking to reporters in Punjab’s Bathinda.
In Himachal Pradesh, Congress leader and candidate from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, Vikramaditya Singh, congratulated actor and BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut for winning from Mandi constituency in the state on her electoral debut and stated that he stands by the people of the constituency and would continue to work for its development.
Speaking to ANI, Singh said, “I would like to thank the people of Mandi for giving a 45 per cent vote share to Congress. I congratulate BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut for winning the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and hope that the development works promised by them are completed. I stand with the people of Mandi. Like I said earlier, whether we win or lose, we stand by them and will work for the development of Mandi.”
“Whether it is the smart city project or the tunnel infrastructure, we will work to take our development work forward. We will also analyse why we got left behind and work to perform better in the next elections,” he said.
