Overview
- Chandy Oommen wore black to cast his ballot Thursday in Puthuppally, calling it a symbolic protest during the Kerala Assembly polling.
- He said the act answered years of targeting of his late father, former chief minister Oommen Chandy, in the solar case that the CBI later closed with a clean chit.
- Oommen accused the Left Democratic Front government of starving local works of funds, citing an unfinished hospital, bridges, and a mini civil station named after his father.
- He also pointed to the Sabarimala gold-loss episode as a source of public anger and urged voters to register their discontent through the ballot.
- The race is the first full assembly contest in the seat since Oommen Chandy’s 2023 death and is viewed as a measure of whether the Congress-led UDF can hold off the LDF and NDA.