Shashi Tharoor files nomination from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union minister Shashi Tharoor today filed his nomination as a Congress candidate from the Lok Sabha seat here.

Tharoor filed his papers before District Collector Biju Prabhakar. The seat is likely to witness a three-cornered fight among sitting MP Tharoor, CPI's Bennet Abraham and O Rajagopal of BJP.

Abraham, the LDF candidate, is yet to file his papers. Rajagopal is a former Union minister. In 2009, Tharoor had won the seat by defeating CPI's P Ramachandran Nair by a margin of nearly one lakh votes.

Another prominent candidate to enter the fray in Kerala today was K P Dhanapalan of Congress in Thrissur. Dhanapalan, who won from the nearby Chalakkudi last time, has swapped the constituency for senior leader P C Chacko this time. The last date for filing of nominations for the April 10 polls is March 22. The scrutiny will take place on March 24 and last date for withdrawing nominations is March 26.