On Thursday, the final day of the submission of nominations, seven persons submitted papers before the designated officials.
Published Aug 18, 2023 | 1:14 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 18, 2023 | 1:43 PM
Jaick C Thomas, Chandy Oommen.
The scrutiny of the nominations for the much-anticipated by-election in the Puthuppally constituency in Kerala —slated for 5 September — will be carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday, 18 August.
On Thursday, the final day of the submission of nominations, seven persons submitted papers before the designated officials.
While Chandy Oommen (Congress-UDF), Lijin Lal (BJP) and Luke Thomas (Aam Aadmi Party) were among those who submitted the nomination on the final day, Jaick C Thomas (CPI(M)-LDF) and others had filed the papers on previous days.
A total of 10 nominations were submitted before the concerned officials, according to the official website of the ECI.
PK Devadas (Independent), Manju S Nair (BJP), Shaji (Independent), Reji Zachariah (CPI(M)), Santhosh Joseph (Independent), Dr K Padmarajan (Independent) are the other people who have filed the nominations.
Election to be held on 5 September.
The final day for withdrawing papers is 21 August and the counting of votes would be done on 8 September.
The by-election to the seat was necessitated by the demise of Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy on 18 July.
The UDF candidate, Chandy Oommen, had remained in his father Oommen Chandy’s shadows but for occasional appearances — like his active participation in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. As a person, Chandy Oommen is less known outside Puthuppally.
His rival, Jaick C Thomas, however, is the better-known of the two. He has been the face of CPI(M) in newsroom debates and had twice taken on Oommen Chandy, who in life, was the undisputed and invincible leader of Puthuppally for over half a century.
However, Thomas now has the unenviable task of taking on Chandy Oommen, the might of the UDF, and Oommen Chandy’s aura in the 5 September by-election.
The BJP whose presence is minimal in the constituency goes into the by-election contest with the limited ambition that its candidate — young district-level leader Lijin Lal — will recover some of its “lost votes” in the constituency.
The BJP is also harping on the “Lord Ganesha is a myth” controversy sparked by state Assembly speaker AN Shamseer in a bid to polarise the Hindu vote in Christian-dominated Puthuppally.
However, whichever way one looks at it, the BJP will remain a sideshow in a contest between Chandy Oommen and Thomas, who was snapping at the heels of the late ex-chief minister, having reduced his winning margin to under 10,000 votes in the 2021 Assembly election.
Meanwhile, UDF candidate Chandy Oommen has rejected the LDF camp’s allegations that there has been a lack of development in the Puthuppally constituency represented by his father for over five decades.
He also questioned the LDF claims that it has pushed development in the state during its seven-year rule.
“There is no reply to my query on whether they are ready for an assessment of the governance of the ruling front,” Chandy Oommen told the media.
Responding to that, LDF candidate Jaick Thomas said he was ready to debate the issue of development carried out in the state by the Left government in the last seven years vis-a-vis the development in the constituency over the years.
“We can assess everything. We can assess the development carried out in the state in the last seven years and the development that happened in Puthuppally during the same time,” he said.
“When we dared the UDF to a debate on development, their unfortunate reply was whether there is a village office, krishi bhavan, or an SBI branch in the village. We should be ready for a debate on development,” he said.
Thomas confidently said he was ready to debate and discuss everything, and the UDF candidate could decide the date, time and venue.
(With PTI inputs)
