The BJP has never won a Lok Sabha seat in Kerala (file photo)

In a tough fight with sitting Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for the Thiruvananthapuram seat, BJP candidate and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Sunday that This constituency has been deprived of development opportunities over the past 15 to 20 years.

Speaking to ANI on Sunday, the Union Minister said, “Trivandrum has been deprived of development and employment opportunities for the past 15-20 years. These two MPs (who represented the seat all these years) have not done anything for the people. The people here are young and hungry for development, change and work.”

Rajiv Chandrasekhar faces a tough challenge from former diplomat and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is seeking a third term in the constituency.

The CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) elected CPI leader Pannyan Raveendran from the constituency, having won the seat in 2005.

Although the BJP has never won a Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, the party has only won once in Thiruvananthapuram district, when O. Rajagopal won the Nemam assembly seat in 2016.

In the 2019 polls, the BJP’s Kummanam Rajasekharan won 31.3% of the vote in Thiruvananthapuram, the party’s best result in all 20 people in the state The largest vote share obtained in the electoral constituency.

However, with Rajeev Chandrasekhar entering the fray this year, the battle for Thiruvananthapuram has turned into a three-way race and will become the most contested in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. One of the competitions to watch.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)