BJP nominee Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday skipped voting in Bengaluru to stay back in Thiruvananthapuram from where he is contesting, ironically asking people in the Kerala capital to come out and vote.

The minister of state for skill development and electronics who is contesting against incumbent MP Shashi Tharoor of the Congress told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that he wasn’t able to get his vote transferred to the Kerala capital in time and blamed lack of timely air connectivity for not heading to Bengaluru.

But his Left Democratic Front rival Pannyan Raveendran of the CPI travelled to his native Kannur in north Kerala where he cast his vote. Tharoor voted in Thiruvananthapuram.

“I didn’t go (to Bengaluru to vote). This (polling in Thiruvananthapuram) is my priority,” Chandrasekhar said when asked why he was still hanging around in Thiruvananthapuram while his vote was in
Bengaluru.

“I wasn’t able to transfer my vote from there. My announcement was on March 3. I didn’t get time. I’d like to say that all my future votes will be from here,” he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram while visiting a booth as polling gathered pace in Kerala.

Asked if his act of not voting was against democracy, Chandrasekhar shot back naming the reporter’s CPM-backed channel.

“It’s my duty to be here. I am here to represent the people. I came to visit the booths,” said the Rajya Sabha member who is trying his luck with his first general election.

“I would have gone and returned if I had a direct flight,” he said, alluding to inconvenient timings.

While he himself didn’t cast his vote, Chandrasekhar appealed to every voter in Thiruvananthapuram to step out and cast their votes. “My request to the people of Thiruvananthapuram is please step out and vote. This is a historic election.... I see this election as an opportunity to start a new chapter of development,” he added.

The Bengaluru-based Malayali business tycoon ensured that Thiruvananthapuram witnessed one of the toughest election battles in recent memory. The BJP hopes to win Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur, where actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi is in a triangular fight with two seasoned campaigners in K. Muraleedharan of the Congress and V.S. Sunil Kumar of the CPI.

Kerala minister for food and civil supplies G.R. Anil Kumar termed Chandrasekhar’s no-show at the voting booth as a clear sign of how corporate bosses see democratic processes. “It is a very serious issue. What has emerged is his lack of trust in democracy. He is basically fooling the people of Thiruvananthapuram. That is why we already said that this is not a contest involving corporate tycoons whose interest will only be focused on their business,” he said.