Kottayam: The Congress in Kerala did not waste any time in naming Chandy Oommen as its candidate for the bypoll in Puthuppally assembly constituency slated for September 5. Ever since the death of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy last month, it was almost clear that his son would be fielded to defend the seat the Congress stalwart held for a record 53 years consecutively.
The Congress is expecting a comfortable win in Puthuppally riding on the popularity of the late chief minister which has only gone to new heights after his demise.
Politics is nothing new to Oommen. Over the years, he has been shadowing his father in and outside the Puthuppally constituency which became synonymous with Oommen Chandy over the past five decades.
Now 37, Oommen has been part of the Congress' organisational structure for long since his college days. He is the chairman of the Youth Congress' national outreach cell and a member of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). He was a state secretary of the Youth Congress in 2013. He was a full-time participant in the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. He, however, had to skip the foot march midway due to his father's illness.
Chandy Oommen studied at Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram, but then went on to St Stephen's College, Delhi to complete his bachelor's and master's in History. He completed LLB from Delhi University and LLM Criminology from National Law University, Delhi and LLM Constitutional Law from Christ University, Bengaluru. He also did a summer course from London School of Economics.
He has been practising as a lawyer in Supreme Court since 2016. He also worked as an adjunct faculty at Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies (Amity University) from 2017 to 2020.
Apart from party responsibilities, he also functioned as a member of the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Books and travel are Oommen's two areas of personal interest. He has travelled over 10 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US.
Chandy Oommen is unmarried.
