BJP fails to open account in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: BJP has once again failed to open its account in Kerala, despite its senior leader O Rajagopal putting up a strong performance finishing runner-up to Congress's Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram.

Though Rajagopal led in the initial rounds of counting, his stock slid in the later stages and he lost to Tharoor by a margin of over 13,000 votes.

LDF candidate Bennet Abraham (CPI) finished third in one of the keenly-watched contests in the state capital of Thiruvanathapuram where the saffron party had pinned its hope of ending decades of electoral jinx.