Seven contestants are finally in the fray for Puthupally Assembly constituency by-elections to be held on September 5. The bypoll was necessitated in the constituency after the death of sitting MLA and Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy. The candidature of the seven candidates was finalised since the deadline for withdrawing the nomination papers ended on Monday.
According to PTI, the statement issued by the district administration revealed that there are three major faces in the battle including Chandy Oommen, son of former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy, who is the Congress-led UDF's candidate, Jaick C Thomas, a DYFI leader, fielded as the candidate of ruling CPI(M)-led LDF and Kottayam District President G Lijinlal has been fielded by the BJP.
Thomas has already taken on Oommen Chandy twice in the 2016 and 2021 Assembly polls. This is the third election for Thomas from the constituency.
In the constituency, since 1970, Chandy had won 12 times in a row and Congress has nominated the son of the well-liked leader for the bypolls.
Apart from this, the remaining four candidates are a worker from Aam Aadmi Party and three other independent candidates.
On September 5, the district administration announced a holiday for all government, semi-government, educational and commercial institutions in the constituency in view of the elections.
The candidates were decided upon after the deadline for withdrawing nomination papers expired on Monday. Additionally, it stated that the election officer assigned election symbols to independent candidates as well as the four recognised parties.
The district administration previously conducted mock polls to test the voting machines and the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). The district administration has also produced a list of election observers, along with their phone numbers so that anyone can contact them with complaints about the byelection.
The votes will be counted on September 8.
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