Chandy Oommen

Chandy Oommen (born 1 March 1986) is an Indian lawyer, lecturer, and politician. He is an advocate by profession, who practices law at the Supreme Court of India since 2016. He currently serves as the Member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly representing Puthuppally Assembly constituency, since 2023, and was the Chairman of the National Outreach Cell of the Indian Youth Congress.

The son of politician and former Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, Chandy is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). His entry into electoral politics occurred in September 2023 when he contested in the Puthupally assembly byelection and won with an unprecedented margin of 37,719 votes, setting a new record for the constituency.

Family and education
Chandy Oommen was born on 1 March 1986 in Puthuppally, Kottayam district of Kerala, India to a Malankara Orthodox Christian family as the only son of former chief minister Oommen Chandy and Mariamma Oommen. He was named after his paternal grandfather, K. O. Chandy. Chandy has two sisters—Maria and Achu Oommen.

Chandy completed his schooling at St. Thomas Residential School, Thiruvananthapuram. He went to college at Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram, for a bachelor's degree in economics. He then pursued his bachelor's (BA Hons) and master's (MA) degrees in history at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, where he was the president of the college students' union from 2006 to 2007. After completing his post-graduation, he went on to earn an LLB from Delhi University and an LLM in criminology from the National Law University, Delhi. Additionally, he completed a summer course at the London School of Economics. Subsequently, he obtained an additional LLM in constitutional law from Christ University, Bengaluru in 2016.

Profession and political beginnings
He functioned as a member of the Organising Committee of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Chandy, who is an advocate by profession, has been practicing law at the Supreme Court of India since 2016. In between, he also worked as an adjunct lecturer at the Amity University, Noida and the Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Delhi from 2017 to 2020.

Chandy was active in politics since his college days. He is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). He previously served as the Secretary of the Indian Youth Congress in the state of Kerala. He later assumed the role of chairman of the National Outreach Cell of the Indian Youth Congress in 2022. In late 2022, Chandy embarked on a 4,000 kilometer barefoot walk as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra movement led by INC leader Rahul Gandhi. However, he had to step down before its completion due to his father's illness.

Electoral politics
His father Oommen Chandy represented the Puthuppally Assembly constituency consecutively for 53 years. Puthuppally by-election was necessitated by the death of his father in July 2023. Chandy was selected as the candidate of United Democratic Front (UDF) by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), who submitted his nomination for the bypoll. Election was held on 5 September. His election campaign began on 23 August. The result was announced on 8 September. Chandy won the bypoll with a record margin of 37,719 votes against Jaick C. Thomas of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) by amassing 80,144 votes altogether. It was the highest ever margin for any candidate in the history of Puthuppally assembly election. The vote share of UDF also raised to 13.3 percent compared to last assembly election.

Puthuppally byelection
