BJP Fields Lijin Lal To Complete Puthupally Bypoll Line-Up

Thiruvananthapuram With the BJP fielding its Kottayam district President Lijin Lal as the candidate for the bypoll to the Puthupally Assembly constituency in Kerala, the line-up for the September 5 by-election is now complete. The bypoll was necessitated by the demise of two-time former Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who represented Puthupally in Kottayam district from 1970 till he passed away on July 18. After the bypoll was announced, the Congress was the first to name its nominee — Chandy Oommen, the son of the late veteran Congress leader. On Saturday, the CPI-M named its youth leader Jaick C. Thomas — who unsuccessfully contested against Oommen Chandy in 2016 and 2021 — as its candidate. Barring Lal, the other two hail from the constituency while Lal hails from the nearby constituency of Pala. The BJP nominee had unsuccessfully contested the 2021 Assembly polls from the Kaduthuruthy Assembly constituency. In 2021, the BJP saw its vote share drop by around 4,000 to around 10,000 votes in Puthupally, and hence the battle here will be a straight one between Chandy Oommen and Thomas. The only solace for Thomas is in the 2021 polls, he made Oommen Chandy sweat before the latter won by a thin margin of around 9,000 votes. It remains to be seen if a sympathy wave in favour of Chandy Oommen will sweep through the constituency, and if it happens, it could be a hat-trick of loses for Thomas. But Thomas and the CPI-M are confident that the governance of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, which has completed seven years, will work in their favour and prevail over the sympathy towards Oommen Chandy.