Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Chandy Oommen won the Puthipally Assembly bypoll by a record margin of 37,719 votes, defeating his nearest rival Jaick C Thomas of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala on Friday.

Giving an unbelievable defeat to the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Government in the high-pitched bypoll, Chandy Oommen bagged 80,144 votes, surpassing the previous records set by his father and two-time former chief minister Oommen Chandy in the Puthipally Assembly seat.

Chandy Oommen surpassed the historic lead set by his father during the 2011 Assembly elections with 33,255 votes.

Her nearest rival, CPI (M)-led LDF candidate Jaick C. Thomas, got 42,425 votes, and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate G. Lijin Lal got 6,558 votes.

Out of 1,76,417 voters, 1,28,624 exercised their franchise, of which 64,084 were male and 64,538 female, recording a polling percentage of 72.91. Though a minor altercation was reported between UDF and LDF workers in front of a polling booth at Kooroppada, the bypoll was by and large peaceful.

In the 2021 Assembly election, the polling per cent was 74.9% compared to 77.4% in 2016. In 2021, former chief minister Oommen Chandy bagged 63,372 votes, Jaick C Thomas 54,328 votes, and the BJP's N. Hari 11,694 votes.

This time, the BJP candidate settled in the third position on the expected line by not improving its vote share compared to the previous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the constituency.

The UDF was marching on a confidence note right from the beginning of the counting day. LDF, which had led its blitzkrieg campaign by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and all other CPM and LDF top leaders, cut a sorry figure in the bypoll.

Soon after the initial trend of a clear lead, Congress workers began celebrating the anticipated election victory by shouting slogans and lighting firecrackers.

The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Government came to power for a second consecutive term by winning 99 seats out of the 140 Assembly seats in 2021, compared to 91 seats in the 2016 Assembly election, altering the four-decade-long electoral tradition in Kerala.

The bypoll to the Assembly seat was necessitated due to the demise of senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who represented the Assembly constituency for the last 53 years.

Chandy Oommen, son of former chief minister Oommen Chandy, who died on July 18, was the candidate for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).

The ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) fielded Jaick C Thomas as its candidate, who contested against the former chief minister twice.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded the party's Kottayam district president, G. Lijin Lal, as its candidate. Lijin Lal, who contested the Kaduthuruthy Assembly constituency in the previous election, settled in third place.

An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate and three independent contestants were also in the fray.

Out of 8 panchayats, the ruling CPI(M) won 6 panchayats in the previous local body elections.

The counting of votes polled on September 5 bypoll held in the constituency began at the Baselios College Auditorium at 8 am.

Twenty tables were arranged for the counting of votes. Five tables will count postal votes, 14 tables will count voting machine votes, and one table will count ETPBS votes for service voters.

As many as 74 officials were deputed for the counting of votes polled in 182 booths.

(With UNI inputs)