Chandy Oommen's win: Giving mandate over sympathy factor apolitical act, says M Swaraj
Puthuppally: CPM leader and state secretariat member M Swaraj on Saturday described the trend of “handing out victory to the kin of the deceased leader in a by-election as an apolitical manner of approaching things which is bound to weaken the democracy.” His response comes in the wake of Chandy Oommen's win at Puthuppally bypoll.
“This is not the first time in Kerala that a kin of a deceased leader has been voted to power in the by-election. Chandy Ommen is the latest example of a candidate who has been voted to power in a by-election, not entirely on the basis of merit, but with the aid of sympathy votes post the death of his father, the Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy,” said Swaraj.
“This is not all a healthy trend as far as democracy is concerned. We wanted to put an end to such discouraging practices through the Puthuppally. Sadly, things didn't pan out the way we wanted it to be. Remember, we had faced similar setbacks in the previous elections held in Thrikkakara, Aruvikkara, and Piravom as well,” added Swaraj.
“Remember, after victory, Chandy Oommen gave out a ‘glorified’ statement that his father has been elected for the 13th time continuously, the attitude says it all. The fight in Puthuppally was once again between Jaick C Thomas and the might of Oommen Chandy, the emotional tide has largely worked in favour of Chandy Oommen,” said the former MLA.
“We all know that BJP trades their votes without shame in Kerala. And also, several votes of CPM would also have defected into the UDF account in the form of sympathy votes,” he added.
Meanwhile, minister PA Mohammed Riyas said that there is a deliberate attempt to over-glorify the UDF victory in the Puthuppally byelection. “News is coming out as if it was the last election to have ever happened in Kerala,” exclaimed the minister. “There is clear politics behind this,” added the tourism minister.
Riyas accused opposition parties of spreading rumours about LDF and also shared his displeasure over the desperate attempts of the rival groups to showcase the government in poor light. “In a way, such cheap tactics deployed by the Congress will eventually work in CPM’s favour, overconfidence will lead to in-fights among the Congress workers, now this has been the case always,” he said.
“However we accept defeat in the Puthuppally bypoll. We shall look into the matter and will brief the public if found necessary,” he added.