Puthuppally by-poll: voter turnout crosses 50%

Thiruvananthapuram: Voting in Puthupally Assembly bypoll has crossed 50% with a turnout of 53.5 per cent registered till 2.00 p.m.

The voting in Puthuppally began on a brisk note on Tuesday morning, with an estimated 15% of the 1,76,417 electorate casting their ballots in the first two hours.

Till 2 pm, 90,572 voters - 45,639 men, 44,931 women and two transgenders, cast their votes, said the district administration.

Long lines of voters could be spotted outside the 182 polling places starting at 6.30 a.m. in the Sunny weather.

Of the total electorate in the constituency, 90,281 are female, 86,132 male, and four transgenders. As many as 957 are first-time voters.

The bye-election was necessitated after the demise of sitting Congress legislator Oommen Chandy, a two-time former Chief Minister and who represented the constituency from 1970 for a record 53 years.

The bypoll was announced less than a month after his demise.

Those in the fray include Chandy's son Chandy Oommen from Congress, CPI(M)'s Jaick C.Thomas, 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.

Thomas waited in the queue for more than 40 minutes before he could cast his vote.

“The voters will vote to ensure that things are set for a new Puthuppally and we are expecting a favourable verdict,” he said.

Expressing confidence in the victory of the CPI(M) candidate, State Minister for Cooperation V.N.Vasavan who was leading the campaign for Thomas said they are confident of their victory as voters are wanting a change very badly.

“At the moment, I am unable to predict the victory margin and that can be said after voting is over and we do our routine analysis. Normally, the voting percentage here is around 77 per cent, this time we expect it will go beyond 80 per cent,” said Vasavan.

Chandy Oommen was seen walking down to the booth along with his mother and two sisters to cast his vote.

After exercising her franchise, Achu Oommen Chandy, the younger daughter of Chandy who has arrived from the Middle East where she is settled, said they are heading for a record-breaking victory.

“We expect Chandy Oommen to get a margin that would overtake the highest margin that our father got. Our margin will cross 33,000 votes,” said Achu Oommen Chandy.

Prohibitory orders have been imposed in the Puthupally constituency effective from Sunday (September 3) at 6 p.m. to Tuesday (September 5) at 6 p.m. Gathering of people and holding of public rallies and meetings related to the election have also been prohibited.

Counting of votes will take place on Friday and the new legislator will be sworn in on September 11, when the Assembly session will resume.

With inputs from IANS