New Delhi/IBNS: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is trailing narrowly behind BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar by around 5,000 votes at 10.30 am in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat that he has won for the past three elections, as per early trends

In 2009 he defeated the CPI's P Ramachandran Nair by nearly one lakh votes and polled over 14 percent more.

In 2014 he edged the BJP's O Rajagopal by fewer than 16,000 votes.

Five years later the margin was much healthier and Tharoor thumped the BJP's K Rajasekharan by one lakh votes.

Exit polls had suggested Chandrasekhar would defeat his rival.