KOTTAYAM: Making the candidates’ line-up clearer, the CPM in Kerala has formally announced Jaick C Thomas as its candidate for the by-election in Puthuppally Assembly constituency on Saturday. The UDF candidate Chandy Oommen has already started campaigning in the constituency. BJP is expected to announce its candidate on Sunday.
While the UDF took the early advantage by announcing Chandy’s candidature within a couple of hours after Election Commission announced the byelection, the LDF decided to field Jaick after due deliberations in the party’s organisational hierarchy. CPM state secretary M V Govindan announced Jaick’s name at the CPM district committee office in the afternoon.
“After collecting opinion at various levels, the party’s district and state secretariats have decided to field Jaick as the candidate in Puthuppally by-election with the approval of our central committee,” said Govindan. He also said the “sole agenda” of the opposition Congress was not to accept any sort of developmental project in Kerala.
This is the third consecutive electoral fight for Thomas from the Puthuppally constituency. He had taken on Oommen Chandy in his bastion in the 2016 and 2021 Assembly polls.
The by-election to the seat was necessitated due to Oommen Chandy’s demise on July 18 after battling cancer. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has fielded Chandy Oommen, son of Oommen Chandy, from the constituency.
The bypoll will be held on September 5. The results will be announced on September 8. With UDF and LDF fielding candidates in their 30s, Puthuppally is all set to witness a direct fight between two youngsters. While it is the first election for 37-year-old Chandy, Jaick, who is 33, is facing the third consecutive election in Puthuppally. Jaick has lost previous two elections to former CM Oommen Chandy in 2016 and 2021.
Meanwhile, BJP is yet to take a final decision on its candidate. The BJP state core committee meeting held in Thrissur has finalised a list of probables and passed it on to its state committee to take a final decision. The list includes Kottayam district president Lijinlal, local leaders Manju Pradeep and Sobinlal.