Shashi Tharoor Asked "Who Will Be Kerala Chief Minister?" What He Told NDTV

As vote counting progressed in the Kerala Assembly elections held on April 9, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the electorate had voted decisively for change and expressed confidence that the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) would form a comfortable majority government.

Speaking to NDTV, Tharoor stated: "They have voted decisively for change, even when individual ministers or MLAs of the ruling front may have been popular. People have voted against them because they recognise that voting for them would merely mean a continuation of misgovernance. That's an amazing sign of the maturity of the electorate, and I think we have every reason to be saying that the result is better than expected, and we should be forming a comfortable majority government here."

The initial two hours of counting showed the Congress-led UDF taking a massive lead. Reports indicated the UDF was ahead in over 90 seats, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in under 50 seats, and the BJP-headed National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in around 5 seats.

When asked who would become the next Chief Minister of Kerala, Tharoor said, "Look, I mean the honest answer is that I have no clue because the truth is the way it works in our party is that you will actually have a consultation amongst the victorious MLAs by a representative, the Congress president, and then you will find the high command making the final decision. ... the fact that we have an abundance of talent is a good sign."

Tharoor added that it was not merely a question of forming the government, which the UDF had been expecting, but of achieving what he described as a historic majority. He noted that the UDF was leading in 99 seats, a level of performance that had not occurred in a very long time, and said the party was looking forward to confirmation of an "amazing result". 

"It is not just about forming the government, which we were expecting anyway, but a historic majority we're leading now in 99 seats, which I must say hasn't happened in a very long time, and we're really looking forward to an amazing result when this is confirmed. We recognise that not even half the rounds are over, so it will take some time, yes, the signs are unmistakably the numbers," Tharoor told NDTV. 

Election Commission figures showed Congress ahead in 50 seats, CPI(M) in 31, IUML in 17, CPI in 13, Kerala Congress (M) in 4, and BJP, Kerala Congress (KEC), and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leading in 3 seats each. 

These trends supported the UDF's claim that it would secure a huge majority.

Veteran Congress leader PJ Kurien had on Saturday said there were several persons in the party qualified to become Chief Minister if the UDF wins, but that only three names were being considered for the position. He did not name the three individuals. 

Kurien said that unlike the Left Front, the Congress had no dearth of qualified leaders. He said the final decision on the Chief Minister would be accepted by everyone in the party, whether they agreed with it or not.