Set for a win from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor took to Twitter to thank his supporters.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Mr. Tharoor dedicated his win to Congress workers, volunteers and the people of Thiruvananthapuram "for reposing faith" in him.
He also paid tributes to his rivals - BJP's Kummanam Rajasekharan and CPI's C. Divakaran -- for "having fought a strong campaign."
Mr. Tharoor, however, said it was a "bittersweet emotion" for him since the Congress will be out of power at the Centre for the second consecutive time.
"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," Mr. Tharoor tweeted.
With his third consecutive victory, Mr. Tharoor appears to have put to rest criticisms of being an “outsider” in the political scenario. Besides the rival parties, he had also been targeted by his own party men during the initial stages of his political plunge. During a recent interview with The Hindu , the parliamentarian admitted to have faced much resentment within the party for having apparently taken something many had worked hard for.
“But, ten years down the road, there’s so much unanimity in the party that no other candidates were proposed from the constituency,” he had said.
