CPM has its best bet in Jaick C Thomas to take on Chandy Oommen in the September 5 Puthuppally assembly bypoll, though the youngster had to face defeat twice in the constituency. The electoral defeats to none other than Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy must have taught Jaick a few lessons in practical politics which, he and his party can hope, would come in handy when he faces the former's son this time.
At 33, Jaick is a known face of the CPM, thanks to prime time TV debates which he frequents with his aggressive and sarcastic style. Having started his political career in SFI, the CPM's student wing, Jaick is a member of the party's Kottayam district committee and the state and central panels of the DYFI. He is a former state president of SFI.
Jaick came under limelight in 2010 with a student protest at CMS College, Kottayam where he was a degree student. Then a member of SFI's Kottayam area committee, he was expelled from the college as he led a strike against the change in BA Communicative English syllabus. However, he was allowed to appear for the examinations.
Following the strike that caught state-wide attention, Jaick became SFI district president and then its state chief.
A native of Manarkad in Puthuppally constituency, he was deployed by his party to challenge Oommen Chandy in 2016. He could not do any magic then just like his predecessors who could not breach Puthuppally's trust in Oommen Chandy ever since 1970. Oommen Chandy won his 11th election in a row in 2016 by a whopping margin of 27,092 votes.
Five years later, in 2021, Jaick almost staged an upset by reducing the Congress veteran's victory margin to 9,044 votes. It is evident that this 2021 show must have prompted the Marxist party to field him in the bypoll that comes just two years later. The party and the candidate must be knowing it's not at all going to be an easy fight this time with the sentiments triggered by Oommen Chandy's death refusing to fade down.
Jaick is pinning his hopes on his familiarity with the constituency, CPM's organisational strength and the pro-development plank of the Left front. Since his election debut in 2016, he has been active in the constituency. His social media intervention titled "Puthuppallikkoru Pusthakam" during the 2016 campaign was notable.
Since 2016, Jaick has evolved a lot as a communicator and political activist. In the poll discourse, he struck the first blow on the Congress' face when he said "there is only one saint for Puthuppally that is St. George." It was clearly a harsh criticism aimed at the calls to elevate Oommen Chandy as a saint which has also been indirectly endorsed by the Congress.
Soon after he was declared the candidate, senior K Muraleedharan taunted him saying "Jaick will hit a hat-trick loss in Puthuppally and will have the distinct credit of losing to father and son". Jaick retorted, asking the Congress leader not to forget his past and the names he called Oommen Chandy during the clashes between the two. He is all game for the third game no matter what the results could be.
