The odds seemed to overwhelmingly favour 33-year-old Jaick C. Thomas’ nomination as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] standard-bearer in the byelection battle for the Puthuppally Assembly constituency on September 5.
The CPI(M) State secretariat, which met here on Friday, reportedly felt that Mr. Thomas had a fighting chance to offset 38-year-old Congress leader and United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Chandy Oommen’s home advantage.
Mr. Thomas, who hails from the Jacobite community, gave former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, a member of the Orthodox faction, a close fight in the 2021 Assembly elections, denting the veteran’s victory margin by a third and increasing CPI(M)‘s vote share by more than 8%.