Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 17 (IANS): Ten candidates have filed their nomination papers for the Puthupally assembly constituency which will be held on September 5.

The counting will take place on September 8.

Former Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy represented the constituency for a record 53 years. He passed away on July 18.

Chandy’s son, Chandy Oommen, CPI-M’s Jaick C.Thomas and BJP’s Lijin Lal are also in fray.

Among the others include a candidate from AAP and six independent candidates.

This is third successive outing for CPIM’s Thomas who previously contested unsuccessfully against Chandy in 2011 and 2016.

For a change this time, there are no candidates with similar name or near like names (namesake) against the main candidates, which at times confuse the voters.

The biggest victim of this was veteran Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran who lost the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Alappuzha by a margin of 1009 votes, when his namesake secured around 8,000 votes.