Puthuppally Assembly bypoll: LDF, UDF engage in war of words ahead of results
The voting for the Puthuppally Assembly constituency bypoll in the Kottayam district of Kerala concluded on Tuesday evening with 72.91% of voters turning up to exercise their franchise
Ahead of the counting of votes in the Puthuppally Assembly bypoll on Friday, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) traded charges at each other over the likely electoral outcome.
Launching the initial attack, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) state secretary MV Govindan said that Congress candidate Chandy Oommen could not win the bypolls without the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the two parties have a ‘secret deal’.
“We have received the vote calculations from the grassroots level. The only problem is that the BJP has around 19,000 votes there, so there’s doubt whether the UDF has bought the votes. It will be clear during the counting. Chandy Oommen cannot win without buying the BJP’s votes. If they haven’t got those votes, we will win. Whoever wins, there won’t be a big majority,” Govindan told reporters.
Responding, Congress state president K Sudhakaran said that the CPM leader’s remarks lacked common sense.
“It’s such a shame that the CPM state secretary makes such ridiculing remarks. They will only result in lowering his name and dignity. How can pro-BJP voters vote for Congress? Can it happen in India? We are their enemy,” said Sudhakaran.
At the same time, he alleged that the CPM and the BJP have always had a secret understanding to create a Congress-free Kerala.
“That’s why Pinarayi Vijayan and K Surendran (state BJP chief) are walking freely (despite numerous cases against them). Both leaders are part of the CPM-BJP history in the state.”
BJP candidate Ligin Lal said when the vote counting ends, it will be clear who voted for whom.
“In Kerala, the Congress and the CPM have always traded votes. It’s because of such transactions that several NDA (National Democratic Alliance) leaders have not been able to sit inside the Assembly. We would have won several seats. At the national level, CPM and Congress are allies, and in Kerala, they have helped each other too,” Lal told a local news channel.
The voting for the Puthuppally Assembly constituency bypoll in the Kottayam district of Kerala concluded on Tuesday evening with 72.91% of voters turning up to exercise their franchise.
The by-election was necessitated by the death of veteran Congress leader, two-time CM and 12-time MLA Oommen Chandy, who represented the seat uninterrupted since 1970. Chandy had succumbed to cancer at a private hospital in Bengaluru on July 18.
The Congress-led UDF has fielded Chandy Oommen, son of late Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, to bank on the sympathy wave following the former CM’s death.
Whereas, the On Left once again fielded Democratic Youth Federation of India leader Jaick C Thomas, who had unsuccessfully contested from the segment in 2016 and 2021 against the late Chandy.
