Kerala Bypolls: Congress exudes confidence in winning Puthupally seat, following Oommen Chandy's 53-year-stint

livemint.com:

by-election at the Puthuppally assembly constituency in Kerala ended on Sunday. Senior Congress leader V D Satheesan expressed full confidence in winning the seat which was held by late veteran leader Oommen Chandy for 53 years. "We have full confidence that we will win this by-election.

We believe that Chandy Oommen could garner votes cutting across political and religious barriers. This election will reflect the people's love towards Oommen Chandy and a mandate against the Left government," Satheesan said as quoted by PTI. A by-election was necessitated in Puthuppally following the demise of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on July 18.

The Election Commission, less than a month after Chandy's death on July 18, on August 8 had announced September 5 as the date of polling and September 8 for counting of the votes. Oommen Chandy's son, Chandy Oomen is the UDF candidate while CPI(M) leader Jaick C Thomas is the Left candidate. BJP has fielded its senior leader from the district, Lijin Lal, as per PTI reports.

A few days later, the ruling LDF in the state announced DYFI leader Jaick C Thomas -- who had in 2016 and 2021 contested from the area and lost to Oommen Chandy both times -- as its candidate. Other than the three, four other candidates -- one from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and three independent contestants -- also joined the fray for the seat. The campaigning saw the LDF, UDF, and the BJP accusing each other of not doing anything for the development of Puthuppally and the state as a whole, PTI reported.