08 September,2023 06:55 PM IST | Puthuppally | ANI
Congress leader Chandy Oommen/ Pic/X
Congress party on Friday registered a thumping victory in Kerala's Puthuppally seat. Congress leader and son of former Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy, Chandy Oommen retained his father's Puthuppally seat by defeating the Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate Jaick C Thomas. Chandy Ommen won from Puthuppally by around 37000 votes.
Congratulating him on this victory, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on Friday said. the people of Puthuppally have given the verdict against the Chief Minister's arrogance. "The victory in Puthupally is the victory of Congress unity," KC Venugopal said, adding, that Pudupally is the people's verdict against the Chief Minister's arrogance".
He further claimed that Congress candidate Chandy Oommen also received support and votes from the CPM. "The siren of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has already been sounded. This is the sentiment against the government," said KC Venugopal while speaking to the media in Kannur.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala also reacted to Chandy's win and said that the spectacular victory in the Puthuppally bye-elections was a clear message to the Centre and the state government that they had thrown out both parties.
"The spectacular victory in the Puthuppally bye-elections is a clear message to the Modi and Pinarayi Vijayan governments. Both the BJP and CPM have been thrown out by the people of Puthuppally. No by-election in Kerala has had such a landslide margin. The message is very clear," he added.
Launching a sharp attack on the Pinarai Vijayan-led state government, Congress leader AK Antony demanded an apology from the Chief Minister and said, "I was expecting these results because the people of Puthupally were waiting to punish those people... It is a punishment by the people's court in Puthupally against those people. My request to the CPM and government is that you please tell the people of Kerala that 'we are sorry about what we've done."
The Kerala Assembly has a total of 140 seats. Of these 98 seats, 98 belong to the ruling CPI (M) government and its alliance parties. While the opposition holds 40 seats. Notably, this is the first election between the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition bloc, the newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Apart from Puthupally, counting for the bye-elections is being held for the Dhupguri seat in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri, Dumri in Jharkhand and Uttarakhand Bageshwar, and Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura and Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh.
