The massive win that people have granted the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the State Assembly elections this time is a warning to all political fronts, including the UDF, to shed arrogance and to remember that people are the real masters, Chandy Oommen, the Congressman who was elected to the State Assembly for a second term from Puthuppally constituency, said.

Addressing mediapersons at a meet the press programme organised by the press club here on Wednesday (May 6, 2026), Mr. Oommen said that he would like to reiterate what the Congress party’s senior-most leader, A.K. Antony had said about the UDF’s victory, that the UDF should not make the mistakes that Left Democratic Front (LDF) made.

No elected government should function by forgetting the people who had put them in power in the first place. The UDF’s win is a very proud one and the new government will work for the people, fully imbibing the spirit of Mr. Antony’s advice, Mr. Oommen said.

UDF’s decisive victory symbolised public acceptance of its vision and ideals. The election results reflected widespread discontent with a government that had been dismissive and unresponsive. Voters from all backgrounds supported UDF.

Mr. Oommen said that there will always be individual opinions on who should be the Chief Minister but that there will be a consensus and the Congress high command will decide the CM after considering all opinions.

On being asked whether he was a prospective Minister in the new government, Mr. Oommen said that the Congress legislature party will be meeting soon to form the government and that being a Minister was not a matter of priority for him at all.

Novel campaigning

Mr. Oommen had won national attention by re-writing the manner in which election campaigning is done, when he chose not to put up any flexboards, posters or hoardings and campaigned on a cycle all across his constituency. He said that his no-frills campaign seemed to have struck a chord with the people in his constituency, for they had given him a victory with a huge margin.

He said that he had chosen not to waste money on flex boards and posters because he was involved in a housing project in his constituency and any money saved could be diverted towards the completion of that project.

“My total election-related expenses was ₹21 lakh. I managed to save ₹79 lakhs, which I will utilise for the housing project for the poor at Puthuppally,” Mr. Oommen said.

Mr. Oommen, who had raised serious allegations against the Election Commission of India (EC) over alleged discrepancies in the voters’ list and the omission of some 10,000-odd persons from the list in his Puthuppally constituency, said that the EC needed to seriously revise the manner in which it was conducting elections.

The EC needs to involve more people or take them into confidence in the conduct of elections and the processes needed to be more candidate and people-friendly. The EC was an institution that had to maintain high credibility and some of the election-related happenings at Puthuppally was enough to erode people’s confidence in the system, Mr. Oommen said.