This is the 13th victory of my ‘father’: Chandy Oommen

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After sweeping the Puthuppally by-election, Congress leader Chandy Oommen, on Friday, attributed his victory to Oommen Chandy and termed it the 13th victory of his late father.

Even though the final tally is yet to be released, Chandy Oommen’s margin of victory stands at 36,454 votes.

By crossing 36,000 he breached the highest victory margin which his father got in 2011.

In 2011, Oommen Chandy had secured a margin of 33,255 in his 12 outings since 1970.

"I would like to thank the people of Puthuppally for this overwhelming victory. From now on, welfare of every individual in my constituency would be my responsibility," said Chandy Oommen.

"I fully agree that it’s going to be a huge challenge against the backdrop of how my father nurtured it for the past 53 years. I assure you all that I will strive my best for the constituency," he added.

He went on to say that the people gave him this stunning victory by dismissing all the canards against his father by the political opponents in this election.

In the fray were 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.

Of the 1,76 412 electorate, as many as 1,28,535 cast their votes this time.

The election became necessary after the passing away of sitting Congress legislator- Oommen Chandy, a two-time former Chief Minister who represented the constituency from 1970 for a record-breaking 53 years.