The Congress, on Tuesday, August 8, named former Kerala Chief Minister and senior party leader Oommen Chandy’s son Chandy Oommen to contest from Puthupally assembly constituency seat. The byelection comes after the leader passed away on July 18. The CPI(M) is expected to announce its candidate by the end of this week. Chandy Oommen will commence election work in his constituency from Wednesday.

As soon as the Election Commission announced the bypolls, a meeting was held by the party in Delhi and Chandy was fielded. The announcement was made by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal and state president K Sudhakaran. “Puthuppally was represented by Oommen Chandy for the past 53 years. Bearing his memories in mind, we have none but Chandy Oommen to present before Puthuppally," KC Venugopal said.

Congress General Secretary Incharge (Central Election Committee) Mukul Wasnik said, “Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the candidature of Oommen Chandy as Congress candidate for the ensuing bye-elections to the legislative assembly of Kerala from 98 - Puthupally assembly seat.”

The former chief minister died on July 18 in Karnataka's Bengaluru. He was undergoing treatment for cancer. He was 79. Oommen Chandy was chief minister of Kerala twice.