2011 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election

2011 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election

←  2006 13 April 2011 (2011-04-13) 2016  →
All 30 seats to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly 16 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	86.19%
First party Second party   Leader N. Rangaswamy V. Vaithilingam Party AINRC INC Alliance AINRC + AIADMK DPA+UPA Leader since 7 February 2011 4 September 2008 Leader's seat Kadirkamam (retained) Kamaraj Nagar (won) Last election New 10 Seats before New 10 Seats won 15 7 Seat change 3 Percentage 31.75% 25.06%   Third party Fourth party   AIADMK DMK Leader A. Anbazhagan R. Siva Party AIADMK DMK Alliance AIADMK + AINRC DPA+UPA Leader's seat Oupalam (won) Orleampeth (lost) Last election 3 7 Seats won 5 2 Seat change 2 5 Popular vote 95,960 74,552 Percentage 13.75% 10.68%
Green = Indian National Congress, Red = All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Yellow = Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Blue = All India N.R Congress, Grey = Independent
Chief Minister before election V. Vaithilingam INC Elected Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy AINRC

A legislative assembly election was held in the Indian union territory of Puducherry on 13 April 2011 to elect members from thirty constituencies in the non-contiguous territory. This election was meant to constitute the Thirteenth Assembly of Pondicherry. ^[1]

Candidates

26 March 2011 marked the last day to complete nominations for the elections. 30 March 2011 was the last day for possible withdrawal of nominations. ^[1] In total, 187 candidates contested the polls. In Yanam there was a total of ten candidates, the highest number in any constituency in this election. In the Indira Nagar constituency there were just two candidates, former chief minister N. Rangaswamy (who also contested the Kadirkamam constituency, this was the first time in the history of the territory that a candidate contested two different assembly constituencies) and Indian National Congress candidate A.K.D. Aroumougame. ^[2] The counting of the votes was scheduled for 13 May 2011. ^[1]

Campaign

Amongst the contending parties, there were two major coalitions. On one side, there was an alliance backing the incumbent chief minister V. Vaithilingam, consisting of the Indian National Congress (which contested 17 seats), the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (10 seats), Pattali Makkal Katchi (2 seats) and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (1 seat). The other main bloc contesting the election was an alliance consisting of the All India N.R Congress of N. Rangaswamy (contesting 17 seats), the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (10 seats), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (1 seat), the Communist Party of India (1 seat) and the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (1 seat). A third force was the Bharatiya Janata Party, which did not align with any of the two big bloc and contested twenty seats on its own. There were also 78 independent candidates in the fray. ^[2]

Several high-profile national politicians took part in the campaigning: Sonia Gandhi (president of the Indian National Congress), Rahul Gandhi (Indian National Congress general secretary), Pranab Mukherjee (Indian National Congress union minister), Nitin Gadkari (BJP president), Sushma Swaraj (BJP MP), Venkaiah Naidu (former BJP president), M. Karunanidhi (DMK chief minister of Tamil Nadu), J. Jayalalithaa (general secretary of AIADMK) and Vijayakanth (general secretary of DMDK). ^[2]

Election

Over 810,000 voters were eligible to take part in the polls. ^[2]

Parties and alliances

Source: ^[3]

   UPA+DPA Alliance

Party			Symbol	Leader	Contesting Seats
	Indian National Congress	INC		V. Vaithilingam	17
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	DMK		R. Siva	10
	Pattali Makkal Katchi	PMK		S. Ramadoss	2
	Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi	VCK		Thol. Thirumavalavan	1

   AINRC-AIADMK Alliance

Party			Symbol	Leader	Contesting Seats
	All India N.R. Congress	AINRC		N. Rangasamy	17
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	AIADMK		A. Anbalagan	10
	Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam	DMDK			1
	Communist Party of India	CPI			1
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	CPI(M)			1

List of Candidates

Constituency
		UPA + DPA			AIADMK + AINRC
1	Mannadipet		PMK	K.P.K. Arul Murugan		AINRC	T. P. R. Selvame
2	Thirubuvanai (SC)		INC	K. Jayaraj		AINRC	P. Angalane
3	Ossudu (SC)		DMK	A. Elumalai		AINRC	P. Karthikeyan
4	Mangalam		INC	C. Djeacoumar		AINRC	P. Anandabaskaran
5	Villianur		INC	A. Namassivayam		AINRC	K. Nadarajan
6	Ozhukarai		DMK	A. Johnkumar		AINRC	N.G. Pannirselvam
7	Kadirkamam		INC	V. Pethaperumal		AINRC	N. Rangaswamy
8	Indira Nagar		INC	V. Aroumougam		AINRC	N. Rangaswamy
9	Thattanchavady		DMK	A. Ilango		AINRC	Ashok Anand
10	Kamaraj Nagar		INC	V. Vaithilingam		CPI	Nara. Kalainathan
11	Lawspet		INC	V.P. Sivakolundhu		AINRC	M. Vaithianathan
12	Kalapet		INC	M. O. H. F. Shahjahan		AINRC	P.M.L. Kalyanasundaram
13	Muthialpet		DMK	Nandha. T. Saravanan		AIADMK	A. Kasilingam
14	Raj Bhavan		INC	K. Lakshminarayan		AIADMK	M. Saravanakumar
15	Oupalam		DMK	Annibal Kennedy		AIADMK	A. Anbalagan
16	Orleampeth		DMK	R. Siva		AINRC	G. Nehru
17	Nellithope		DMK	R. V. Janakiraman		AIADMK	Omsakthi Sekar
18	Mudaliarpet		DMK	M.A.S. Subramanian		AIADMK	A. Baskar
19	Ariankuppam		INC	T. Djeamourthy		AINRC	V. Sabapathy
20	Manavely		PMK	R. K. R. Anantharaman		AIADMK	P. Purushothaman
21	Embalam (SC)		INC	M. Candassamy		AINRC	P. Rajavelu
22	Nettapakkam (SC)		INC	S. Muthukumarasamy		AIADMK	L. Periyasamy
23	Bahour		INC	R. Radhakrishnan		AINRC	T. Thiagarajan
24	Nedungadu (SC)	DNF				AINRC	M. Chandhrakasu
25	Thirunallar		INC	R. Kamalakannan		AINRC	P. R. Siva
26	Karaikal North		INC	P. R. N. Thirumurugan		AIADMK	M. V. Omalingam
27	Karaikal South		DMK	A. M. H. Nazeem		DMDK	K. A. U. Asana
28	Neravy T R Pattinam		DMK	Anandan Geetha		AIADMK	Er. M. Selvaraj
29	Mahe		INC	E. Valsaraj		CPI(M)	T. K. Gangadharan
30	Yanam		INC	Malladi Krishna Rao		AIADMK	Manchala Satya Sai Kumar

Results

Parties and Coalitions		Votes	Vote %	Vote swing	Contested	Won	Change
	All India N.R. Congress	2,21,552	31.75		17	15	15
	Indian National Congress	1,85,149	26.53		17	7	3
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	95,960	13.75		10	5	2
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	74,552	10.68		10	2	5
	Pattali Makkal Katchi	17,342	2.48		2	0	2
	Bharatiya Janata Party	9,183	1.32		20	0
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	7,840	1.12		2	0
	Communist Party of India	6,541	0.94		1	0	1
	Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam	5,966	0.85%		1	0
	Independents	70,595	10.12		79	1	2
Total		6,97,900	100.0			30

Aftermath results

N. Rangasamy of AINRC, who won 15 seats, formed government without consulting the AIADMK and was accused of betraying the coalition by J. Jayalalithaa. AINRC secured a majority with the support of an independent V. M. C. Sivakumar. ^[4] However, the AINRC's hastiness in forming the government and refusal to share power with pre-election alliance partner AIADMK proved costly in the subsequent elections in 2016. ^[5]

Results by constituency

Constituency		Winner					Runner-up					Margin
		Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Votes	%
Puducherry District
1	Mannadipet	T.P.R. Selvam		AINRC	12,412	49.56	K.P.K. Arul Murugan		PMK	7,696	30.73	4,716	18.83
2	Thirubhuvanai (SC)	P. Angalane		AINRC	13,733	59.02	K. Jayaraj		INC	8,965	38.53	4,768	20.49
3	Oussudu (SC)	P. Karthikeyan		AINRC	13,327	58.78	A. Elumalai		DMK	8,169	36.03	5,158	22.75
4	Mangalam	C. Djeacoumar		INC	14,052	52.59	P. Anandabaskaran		AINRC	11,759	44.01	2,293	8.58
5	Villianur	A. Namassivayam		INC	13,105	52.03	Nadarajan .K		AINRC	11,564	45.91	1,541	6.12
6	Ozhukarai	N.G. Pannir Selvam		AINRC	9,071	37.77	A.N. Balane		IND	7,505	31.25	1,566	6.52
7	Kadirgamam	N. Rangasamy		AINRC	16,323	70.02	V. Pethaperumal		INC	6,566	28.16	9,757	41.86
8	Indira Nagar	N. Rangasamy		AINRC	20,685	83.77	V. Aroumougam		INC	4,008	16.23	16,677	67.54
9	Thattanchavady	Ashok Anand		AINRC	14,597	67.99	N. Arjunan		IND	4,091	19.05	10,506	48.94
10	Kamaraj Nagar	V. Vaithilingam		INC	12,570	59.01	Nara. Kalainathan		CPI	6,541	30.70	6,029	28.31
11	Lawspet	M. Vaithianathan		AINRC	10,189	51.79	V.P. Sivakolunthu		INC	4,757	24.18	5,432	27.61
12	Kalapet	P.M.L. Kalyana Sundaram		AINRC	14,132	62.43	M.O.H.F Shahjahan		INC	7,766	34.31	6,366	28.12
13	Muthialpet	Nandha. T. Saravanan		DMK	10,364	47.82	A. Kasilingam		AIADMK	7,388	34.09	2,976	13.73
14	Raj Bhavan	K. Lakshminarayanan		INC	11,398	59.57	M. Saravanakumar		AIADMK	4,327	22.62	7,071	36.95
15	Oupalam	A. Anbalagan		AIADMK	9,536	42.59	N. Anand		IND	6,332	28.28	3,204	14.31
16	Orleampeth	G. Nehru @ Kuppusamy		AINRC	10,986	55.26	R. Siva		DMK	8,368	42.09	2,618	13.17
17	Nellithope	Omsakthi Sekar		AIADMK	13,301	58.51	R.V. Janakiraman		DMK	8,783	38.63	4,518	19.88
18	Mudaliarpet	A. Baskar		AIADMK	17,016	67.15	Dr. M.A.S. Subramanian		DMK	7,289	28.76	9,727	38.39
19	Ariankuppam	V. Sabapathy @ Kothandaraman		AINRC	13,381	49.12	T. Djeamourthy		INC	10,750	39.47	2,631	9.65
20	Manavely	P. Purushothaman		AIADMK	13,979	57.98	R.K.R. Anantharaman		PMK	9,646	40.01	4,333	17.97
21	Embalam (SC)	P. Rajavelu		AINRC	12,933	51.95	M. Candassamy		INC	11,465	46.06	1,468	5.89
22	Nettapakkam (SC)	L. Periyasamy		AIADMK	14,686	59.80	S. Muthukumarasamy		INC	9,219	37.54	5,467	22.26
23	Bahour	T. Thiagarajan		AINRC	12,284	53.42	R. Radhakrishnan		INC	10,229	44.49	2,055	8.93
Karaikal District
24	Nedungadu (SC)	M. Chandhrakasu		AINRC	12,474	55.05	A. Marimuthu		IND	4,984	22.00	7,490	33.05
25	Thirunallar	P.R. Siva		AINRC	11,702	50.77	R. Kamalakannan		INC	10,862	47.12	840	3.65
26	Karaikal North	P.R.N. Thirumurugan		INC	12,155	55.69	V. Omalingam		AIADMK	8,795	40.29	3,360	15.40
27	Karaikal South	A.M.H. Nazeem		DMK	8,377	39.37	V.K. Ganapathy		IND	6,801	31.96	1,576	7.41
28	Neravy T.R. Pattinam	V.M.C. Sivakkumar		IND	8,860	39.30	A. Geetha		DMK	8,502	37.72	358	1.58
Mahe District
29	Mahe	E. Valsaraj		INC	13,297	60.51	T.K. Gangadharan		CPI(M)	7,193	32.73	6,104	27.78
Yanam District
30	Yanam	Malladi Krishna Rao		INC	23,985	80.95	Manchala Satya Sai Kumar		AIADMK	4,867	16.43	19,118	64.52

References

1. Election Commission of India. Schedule for holding General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Puducherry
2. "Campaigning ends in Puducherry". The Hindu . PTI. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
3. "AINRC-AIADMK front secures majority in Puducherry". The Hindu . India Today. PTI. 13 May 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
4. "Jayalalithaa accuses Puducherry CM of betrayal". The Hindu . Economic Times. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
5. "Tamil Nadu polls 2016: No alliance with AINRC, says AIADMK in Puducherry". DNA. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2022.