Puthuppally bypoll: Chandy Oommen wins by a record margin, calls it a victory for his father

In a high-octane bypoll battle, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has swept the Puthuppally bypoll on Friday with Chandy Oommen securing a comfortable lead of 36,454 votes. With this, he crossed Oommen Chandy's highest margin in Puthuppally.

While Chandy Oommen secured 78,098 votes, Jaick C Thomas of the CPI(M) and Lijin Lal of the BJP got 41,644 and 6,447 votes respectively. This is more than the margin Oommen Chandy, his late father, could claim himself.

Oommen Chandy had represented the constituency for the past 53 years till his death in July this year. In 2011, Chandy’s highest victory margin of 33,255 votes was against Suja Susan George of the CPI(M).

The bypoll saw a voter turnout of 72.91 per cent, which was lower than the 77.36 per cent in the Assembly elections held in May 2021. In the 2021 election, 63,372 votes were cast in favour of Oommen Chandy. Jaick had come second then too, with 54,328 votes, and N Hari of the BJP got 11,694 votes.

The latest bypoll result shows a clear reduction of votes for both the Left Democratic Front and the BJP — something the new Opposition bloc of the Indian Nationalist Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) would savour too.

Chandy Oommen secured the lead from the beginning. He won a considerable majority in all eight grama panchayats in the constituency.

As the first votes were counted, Oommen recorded a margin of more than 6,000 votes. By the fifth round, Oommen crossed his father’s victory margin of 9,044 votes in the previous Assembly election. The margin crossed 25,000 when half of the votes had been counted.

Meanwhile, CPI(M)’s Jaick trailed even in his own booth in Manarcad panchayat.

Thanking the people for the victory, Chandy Oommen said this was his father’s 13th victory. “I'd like to express my gratitude to all the voters of Puthuppally. I shall work for the betterment of all those who voted for me and against me. We shall work together for the development of Puthuppally,” said Chandy Oommen.

He thanked senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, AK Antony, KC Venugopal, VD Satheesan, K Sudhakaran, Ramesh Chennithala and others for their help. He underscored that he was grateful to the Muslim League for their efforts.

Reacting to the results, Congress Working Committee member AK Antony said Oommen’s victory was a fitting response from the people court of Puthuppally. “The victory of Chandy Oommen shows that the people’s court of Puthuppally has punished those who hunted Oommen Chandy. They should rectify their mistakes hereafter and apologise for their wrong deeds,” said Antony.