The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) defeated the Congress to come to power in the Puducherry Assembly Elections. The NDA alliance, which comprises All India NR Congress, BJP and AIADMK, won 16 seats out of 30 to form the government in the southern state.
Secular Democratic Alliance (SDA) on the other hand - comprising of Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and Communist Party of India (CPI) won only 14 seats. The party required 16 seats to be elected to power.
According to the figures released by the Election Commission of India, the NDA alliance won a total of 16 seats, with 6 seats going to the BJP and 10 going to AINRC. Meanwhile, the Congress conceded defeat as it managed to win just 2 seats out of the 14 it contested.
Some of NDA’s notable victories in Puducherry Assembly Election 2021 include:
BJP’s A Johnkumar won against Congress candidate M.O.H.F. Shajahan in Kamaraj Nagar constituency; BJP’s A Namassivayam’s won against DMK’s A Krishnan in Mannadipet; AINRC’s Chandira Priyanga won against Congress' A Marimuthu from Nedungadu; AINRC’s Richards Johnkumar won against V Cartigueyane of DMK from Nellithope constituency and DMK’s Annibal Kennedy defeated AIADMK’s A Anbalagan to win Oupalam seat.
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The 2021 Assembly election has turned out to be a major victory for BJP as it bagged 6 seats against zero seats in the 2016 Legislative Assembly election. Congress, the outgoing party, had won 15 seats in the 2016 election with AINRC clinching 8 seats, AIADMK (4), DMK (2) and a seat won by an independent candidate.
The single-phase Assembly polling, which concluded on April 6, witnessed a voter turnout of 81.70 percent, according to Election Commission data. 820,446 voters cast their votes out of the total 1,004,197 registered voters in the state.
Although NDA is yet to announce the chief ministerial candidate, former CM N Rangaswamy is said to be a frontrunner for the post. N Rangaswamy contested from two constituencies in the state. The CM candidate fought in Yanam constituency against Independent candidate Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok where he lost by 655 votes along with Puducherry where he defeated CPI's K. Sethu alias Sethu Selvam by 5,456 votes.
The AINRC contested in 16 of the total 30 constituencies whereas, BJP and AIADMK fought on nine and five seats, respectively. The Congress has fielded candidates in 14 seats along with DMK who has fielded candidates in 13 seats, CPI (1 seat), VCK (1 seat) and an independent candidate who contested in Yanam.
Follow Moneycontrol’s full coverage of the 2021 assembly election here