Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 4 After a month of high-octane campaigning, preparations are in place in Kerala's Puthuppally, which goes to polls on Tuesday to elect its new MLA after the demise of Congress veteran Oomen Chandy in July.
Of the 1,76,417 electorate in the constituency, 90,281 are female, 86,132 male, and four transgenders.
There are 957 first time voters.
The election became a necessity after the passing away of sitting Congress legislator- Oommen Chandy, a two-time former Chief Minister and who represented the constituency from 1970 for a record breaking 53 years.
In the fray are Chandy's son Chandy Oommen for the Congress, CPI(M)'s Jaick C.Thomas in his third outing in the constituency, BJP's Lijin Lal and four others.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, Chandy defeated Thomas by 9.044 votes when the total turnout was 77.36 per cent.
Achu Oommen Chandy, the younger daughter of Chandy, who arrived from the Middle East where she is settled, on Monday expressed absolute confidence in her party's victory.
“A few factors which are in play in the constituency includes a huge anti-incumbency factor against the Pinarayi Vijayan government besides the love and affection for Oommen Chandy” said Achu, who had to face a strong smear campaign on social media and was forced to register a complaint.
Putting a brave face was the Left Democratic Front convenor E.P.Jayarajan who said Thomas will win, while the CPI(M) state secretary M.V.Govindan, after going around the constituency campaigning for Thomas, said the contest will not be a cake walk over for the Congress.
Top Congress legislator Ramesh Chennithala said Chandy Oommen will win with a staggering margin of over 50,000 votes which will come as a shocker to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who he stated is the "worst ever CM the state has ever seen".
Now all eyes are on Tuesday's turn-out which is likely to cross 80 per cent.
--IANS
sg/shb
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