His detractors would like to believe that the clock has turned a full circle on Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in his home turf in Puthuppally: A 27-year-old greenhorn taking on a veteran and defeating him.
Mr. Chandy was all of 27 years when he entered the poll fray in Puthuppally and defeated the CPI(M) veteran E.M. George in 1970. Jake C. Thomas, the SFI State president challenging Mr. Chandy this elections, fits the bill, in age. Mr. Chandy’s well-wishers, however, believe that the similarities stop there.
The 2011 elections saw Mr. Chandy winning with the highest margin of 33,255 votes. His opponents believe the climate is entirely different now, especially the mood among women and the nearly 15,000 new voters. They bank on the impact of the rift in the Malankara Church and the crisis among the agrarian community as components influencing the final outcome. Above all, the presence of a hitherto unknown entity, the BDJS-BJP combine, is going to impact Mr. Chandy’s margins more in the highly depoliticised situation in the constituency, they point out.
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Meanwhile, Sunil Kumar, the poll manager for BJP candidate George Kurian, points to the more than 20,000 votes the party had bagged during the local body elections. The synergies released by the BJP-BDJS unity will turn the polls here a different ballgame altogether, he says.
However, Mr. Chandy’s camp points out that the major objective of his opponents is to bring down his margins, nothing more. “Not everyone gets a chance to elect a Chief Minister,” say his campaign managers. This is one constituency which had the opportunity to experience the patronage of the Chief Minister’s motto of Development with Care, first hand, they say, pointing to the large number of institutions that have cropped up in the constituency and the personal care the people at the margins have experienced. Mr. Chandy is personally overseeing the campaign here.
Unlike last time when there were just five candidates in the fray there are nine this time. In addition to the big three, the BSP, SUCI, and Trinamool Congress too have fielded candidates and three Independents are also in the fray. Puthuppally is one segment where Christians dominate the poll list with more than 50 per cent presence. Nair and Ezhava communities constitute about 30 per cent and the SC/ ST and other communities constitute the rest.
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