Thiruvananthapuram |Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the BJP and AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal were among those who filed their nominations on Thursday from Kerala for the April 26 Lok Sabha elections.

Chandrasekhar, who is contesting from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat on a saffron party ticket filed his nomination before the District Collector, who is also the returning officer.

He was accompanied by Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and other senior BJP leaders.

Chandrasekhar is fighting against senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, also the local MP and CPI veteran Pannian Raveendran.

Earlier, Tharoor had expressed confidence of emerging victorious for the fourth time in a row from Thiruvananthapuram.

"There is no doubt about the first place and the only debate is who is going to be the second. Though it is considered a three-cornered fight, I think now the fight is more between Congress and BJP," Tharoor had said Meanwhile, Congress leader Venugopal filed his nomination before the returning officer in Alappuzha. He was accompanied by senior party leaders.

Filing of nominations to 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state concludes on Thursday. The nomination papers will be scrutinised on Friday.

Polling will be held on April 26 and counting of votes taken up on June 4, at the end of the seven phase elections in the country