General elections 2019 results: Shashi Tharoor is fighting from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is leading in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat as early leads come in. "Not getting excited about just 4 per cent of the votes counted, but it's welcome news that I took the lead from the start and am holding on to it," Mr Tharoor tweeted this morning.

He contested for a third term from Thiruvananthapuram. Mr Tharoor's main rivals in this seat are BJP's Kummanam Rajasekharan the Left Democratic Front's (LDF) C Divakaran.

Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats.

With 12% counted i have maintained my lead throughout: current lead over BJP is 4956, with Left 3rd. In a three-cornered contest (unlike most of Kerala) any victory is bound to be narrower than where it's a 2-cornered fight. UDF candidates leading in all 20 Kerala constituencies! - Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 23, 2019

As the leads continued to grow, he tweeted again:

As my lead nears 50,000 with 72% counted, i feel like a batsman who has scored a century while his team has lost! It's a bittersweet emotion I will take some time to reflect on. #TharoorForTvm - Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 23, 2019

In 2014, the Congress's vote share dipped by around 10 per cent, while the BJP's vote share increased by 21 per cent when compared to 2009 in Thiruvananthapuram parliamentary constituency; Left votes had dipped slightly by around 3 per cent.