Puthuppally Bypoll Result: UDF's Chandy Oommen Registers Thumping Victory

Opposition UDF candidate Chandy Oommen registered in the bypolls for the Puthuppally Assembly seat.

Son of late Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy, the Opposition Congress-UDF candidate has won the seat by over 36,000 votes.

While Chandy gained a clear edge since the initial round, his nearest rival and ruling LDF candidate Jaick C Thomas could never gain a lead in any rounds. The CPI(M)-led LDF lost ground even in its stronghold areas, and BJP candidate Lijin Lal was nowhere in the picture when the counting was over.

Chandy Oommen, currently chairman of the Youth Congress's national outreach cell, could well surpass his father's record of margin of 33,255 votes in the constituency, which the late Congress leader represented Puthuppally in the state assembly for over five decades.

The bypoll is being seen as politically significant as the Congress aims to retain its traditional stronghold while the ruling CPI (M) wants to make new inroads by clinching it, as the bypoll comes a few months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The voting for the seat, left vacant by the demise of Oommen Chandy, was held on September 5.

On the Puthuppally by-elections result, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said, "The spectacular victory in the Puthuppally by-elections is a clear message to the PM Modi and Pinarayi Vijayan governments. Both BJP and CPM have been thrown by the people of Puthuppally...No by-election in Kerala has got such a landslide margin. The message is very clear..."

"I was expecting these results because people of Puthupally were waiting to punish those people... It is a punishment by the people's court in Puthupally against those people...My request to CPM and government, please tell the people of Kerala that 'we are sorry about what we've done'," Congress leader AK Antony said.