Kottayam: Chandy Oommen, the UDF candidate in Puthuppally byelection and son of former Chief Minister Ommen Chandy, on Tuesday lashed out at the CPM-led LDF for hounding his family for the past 20 years.

"They have been hounding my family for the past 20 years with baseless allegations. We will disprove the claims about the treatment of my late father Oommen Chandy. Appa has recorded everything in his diary. He penned a note about his treatment last October. We shall release it when the time comes," Oommen told the media after casting his vote at the polling booth at Georgian Public School in Puthuppally. 

An audio clip suggesting that Congress leaders K C Joseph, M M Hassan and Benny Behanan were prevented from visiting Chandy in Bengaluru has been doing the rounds on social media. Joseph had taken to Facebook to say that the audio clip was fake.

"Oommen Chandy's son and wife never prevented us from visiting him. From the time Oommen Chandy stayed at his relative's house in Bengaluru, we have been visiting him. We even held long discussions on political matters. We visited him a week before his death. The LDF is resorting to these methods to defame Chandy Oommen and his family after realising that they will suffer a massive loss in the bypoll," he said.

Oommen and family cast their vote at the booth set up in Georgian Public School. The candidate prayed at the Puthuppally church in the morning and visited former his father's resting place before casting his vote.

Oommen also accused the CPM-led state government of obstructing development in the constituency. Questioning the personal attacks he and his family faced during campaigning, Oommen asked where were those who said development would be the primary discussion point of their campaign.

Voting in the byelection for the Puthuppally assembly constituency in Kottayam district began briskly with men, women and youngsters lining up early at booths that opened at 7 am on Tuesday.

Oommen Chandy represented the constituency for more than five decades without any break until his demise on July 18.