Son of Congress veteran and 2-time chief minister Oommen Chandy, the lawyer-politician defeated CPI(M)'s Jaick Thomas by 36,454 votes.
Published Sep 08, 2023 | 1:03 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 08, 2023 | 2:20 PM
The UDF started celebrating even before the end of the first round of counting.( Supplied)
UDF’s Chandy Oommen defeated Jaick C Thomas of the LDF by a massive margin of 36,667 votes in the bypoll at Puthupally in Kerala’s Kottayam district on Friday, 8 September.
Chandy Oommen retained Puthuppally — which his late father Oommen Chandy represented for 53 straight years — for the Congress, while the CPI(M)’s attempt to wrest the seat back through its young leader Thomas failed for the third consecutive time.
Puthuppally election result.
The UDF candidate polled 80,144 votes, while the LDF could manage only 42,425 votes. The BJP’s Lijin Lal — the party’s district chief — finished third with 6,558 votes. N Hari of the BJP had secured 11,495 votes in the 2021 elections.
The bypoll was necessitated by the 18 July demise of the two-time chief minister, Oommen Chandy. While the Congress fielded his son Chandy Oommen, the CPI(M) once again nominated Thomas, a DYFI Central Committee member.
Oommen Chandy’s popularity in and outside the constituency, a sympathy wave that favoured his junior, and an anti-incumbency feeling towards the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government helped Chandy Oommen register a thumping win.
Right from the initial rounds of counting at 8 am, Chandy Oommen maintained a steady lead, which increased to a record margin by the time 75 percent of the votes were counted. UDF workers started celebrating outside the counting centre at the Baselius College in Kottayam, even before the completion of the first round.
The Puthuppally Assembly segment had seen a voter turnout of 72.91 percent on Tuesday, 5 September.
Chandy Oommen’s margin is a record, which even his father could not manage in his 53 years. The highest margin for Oommen Chandy was in 2011, when he defeated CPI(M)’s Prof Suja Susan George by 33,255 votes.
In 2016, Oommen Chandy won the constituency by a margin of 27,092 votes, despite Thomas’s high-octane campaign. However, in 2021, Thomas significantly reduced the Congress stalwart’s victory margin to 9,044 votes.
Exit polls had predicted a massive mandate for Chandy Oommen, saying Puthuppllay would reflect both sympathy and strong anti-incumbent sentiments against the Vijayan government. Thomas, however, had said that he did not believe in exit polls.
Jaick C Thomas. (Facebook)
Soon after the polling, CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan alleged an indirect understanding between the BJP and Congress to defeat Thomas. Govindan said Chandy Junior could win the election only with the support of the BJP. Many senior leaders of the CPI(M) kept repeating Govindan’s claim.
Chairman of the National Outreach Cell of the Indian Youth Congress, Chandy Oommen, dedicated the victory to his father, who stood for the constituency and its people for over 53 years and contributed immensely to its overall growth.
A lawyer-turned-politician, Chandy Oommen, was the student union chairman of the prestigious St Stephens College in Delhi during 2006–07. A former associate of Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, he now heads a legal firm, Oommen and Krishna.
He has been active in the Congress and has engaged in party campaigns in different states. He also created headlines during the pandemic-induced lockdown by taking up different charity activities in Delhi and Kerala.
Chandy Junior was also part of the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra from start to finish.
The Congress stood united with its entire state unit camping in Puthuppally, and rolled out a systematic campaign, mostly highlighting allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement against Vijayan and his immediate family.
The party also highlighted the alleged vendetta politics of the CPI(M), including the smear campaign against Oommen Chandy in the infamous solar scam. In all the cases related to the scam, the courts and investigative agencies, including the CBI, found him innocent.
On the other hand, Vijayan and most of his Cabinet colleagues conducted several rounds of intense campaigning in the constituency, alleging that Oommen Chandy had done nothing for the constituency’s development. They said the picture would change once Thomas wins the election.
The CPI(M) had high hopes this time about Puthuppally, as it pointed out often in the campaigning that the party is ruling six of the eight gram panchayats that constitute the constituency.
It also highlighted the CPI(M) rule prevailing in the constituency’s three-block panchayats.
The LDF would have had 100 members in the state Assembly if Thomas had won.
Despite leaders of both the fronts urging their workers to refrain from launching personal attacks, candidates and their families were targeted during the run-up to the election.
Chandy Oommen’s sister Achu Oommen, Thomas’s late father and wife were targeted, prompting the women to lodge police complaints. Thomas’s inherited property, too, was subjected to public scrutiny.
Even as mudslinging, character assassination and matters pertaining to local development took centre stage during the campaign, issues such as the Manipur violence, Uniform Civil Code and others of national importance were ignored. Even state-level civic issues were forgotten.
The star campaigners in the constituency included Shashi Tharoor, recently inducted into the Congress Working Committee, and most ministers in the Vijayan Cabinet. Veteran Congress leader AK Antony campaigned for Chandy Oommen, while his son, Anil Antony, attended a a few campaign meetings of the BJP.
Emboldened by the byelection victory, Congress would sharpen its attack against Vijayan and his family in the coming days.
Despite becoming chief minister for a second consecutive term, the LDF has failed to win byelections so far. In 2022, Congress retained the Thrikkakkara constituency despite the chief minister and his ministers camping there for almost three weeks.
