2021 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election

2021 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election

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All 30 seats in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly 16 seats needed for a majority
Registered	1,004,507 [1]
Turnout	83.42%(1.66pp)
Majority party Minority party   DMK Leader N. Rangaswamy R. Siva Party AINRC DMK Alliance NDA SPA+UPA Leader since 2011 2021 Leader's seat Thattanchavady (won) Yanam (lost) Villianur (won) Last election 8 2 Seats won 10 6 Seat change 2 4 Popular vote 216,249 154,858 Percentage 25.85% 18.51% Swing 2.25pp 9.61pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader A. Namassivayam V. Narayanasamy Party BJP INC Alliance NDA SPA+UPA Leader since 2021 2016 Leader's seat Mannadipet (won) Did not contest Last election 0 15 Seats won 6 2 Seat change 6 13 Popular vote 114,298 131,393 Percentage 13.66% 15.71% Swing 11.26pp 14.89pp
Chief Minister before election V. Narayanasamy INC Elected Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy AINRC

The elections to elect the members of the 15th Puducherry Assembly was held on 6 April 2021. The elections were held for all the 30 constituencies of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly.

The National Democratic Alliance won a simple majority in the elections, and N. Rangaswamy of the All India N.R. Congress was sworn in as the chief minister for the fourth time.

Background

Elections to a legislative assembly in India are usually held once in five years, and the members of the legislative assembly are directly elected to serve five year terms from single-member constituencies. The previous assembly elections were held in May 2021 to elect the 30 members of the 14th Puducherry Assembly.

In the previous election, the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance formed the government after winning 17 of the 30 seats, and V. Narayanasamy sworn in as the chief minister. ^{[2] [3]} All India N.R. Congress (AINRC), which had formed the government under N. Rangaswamy after the 2011 elections, won eight seats, and Rangaswamy became the leader of the opposition in the assembly. ^[4]

In February 2021, a trust vote was called by the lieutenant governor after five members of the Congress including two ministers, and one member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) resigned from the assembly. ^[5] With the strength of the house reduced to 27, which included the three nominated members, the government had the support of only 11 members. After the government lost the trust vote, Narayanasamy resigned as chief minister on 22 February. Later, Narayanasamy stated that the government lost because the speaker accepted the votes from nominated members on equal standing to the elected ones, and the lieutenant governor, who was a former member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had appointed members of the same party for all the nominated seats. ^[6]

Schedule

Event	Date
Beginning of nominations	12 March 2021
Deadline for filing Nominations	19 March 2021
Scrutiny of nominations	20 March 2021
Deadline for withdrawal of candidatures	22 March 2021
Polling	6 April 2021
Counting	2 May 2021

Parties and alliances

National Democratic Alliance

The National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP, consisted of AINRC and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. ^[7] The Pattali Makkal Katchi, which initially announced candidates to nine seats, later withdrew from competition, and supported the alliance without contesting in any seat. ^[8]

Party			Symbol	Leader	Seats contested
	All India N.R. Congress	AINRC		N. Rangaswamy	16
	Bharatiya Janata Party	BJP		A. Namassivayam	9
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	AIADMK		A. Anbalagan	5

United Progressive Alliance

Seat sharing amongst the members of United Progressive Alliance

The Congress led United Progressive Alliance contested the elections in alliance with the DMK. ^[9] The Communist Party of India (Marxist) contested the Muthialpet seat and supported the alliance in all other seats. ^[10]

Party			Symbol	Leader	Seats contested
	Indian National Congress	INC		V. Narayanasamy	14
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	DMK		R. Siva	13
	Communist Party of India	CPI		A. M. Saleem	1
	Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi	VCK		Thol. Thirumavalavan	1
	Independent	IND		Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok	1 [note 1]

Constituency sharing of NDA allies for the 2021 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election

Other parties

Party			Symbol	Leader	Seats contested
	Makkal Needhi Maiam	MNM		Kamal Haasan	22
	Naam Tamilar Katchi	NTK		Seeman	28
	Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam	DMDK		Vijayakanth	26
	Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi	IJK		T. R. Paarivendhar	21
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	CPI(M)		K. Balakrishnan	1
	Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation	CPI(ML)L		Dipankar Bhattacharya	1

Candidates

List Of Candidates ^[12]

Constituency		NDA			UPA
No.	Name	Party		Candidate	Party		Candidate
Puducherry District
1	Mannadipet		BJP	A. Namassivayam		DMK	A. Krishnan
2	Thirubuvanai (SC)		AINRC	B.Gobika		DMK	A. Mugilan
3	Ossudu (SC)		BJP	J. Saravana Kumar		INC	P. Karthikeyan
4	Mangalam		AINRC	C. Jayakumar		DMK	Sankumaravel
5	Villianur		AINRC	S.V.Sugumaran		DMK	R. Siva
6	Ozhukarai		AINRC	G.Pannirselvam		VCK	D.Angalane
7	Kadirkamam		AINRC	S.Ramesh		INC	P. Selvanathan
8	Indira Nagar		AINRC	V. Arumugam A.K.D.		INC	M. Kannan
9	Thattanchavady		AINRC	N. Rangaswamy		CPI	K. Sethu Selvam
10	Kamaraj Nagar		BJP	A. Johnkumar		INC	M. O. H. F. Shahjahan
11	Lawspet		BJP	V. Saminathan		INC	M. Vaithianathan
12	Kalapet		BJP	P. M. L. Kalyanasundaram		DMK	S. Muthuvel
13	Muthialpet		AIADMK	Vaiyapuri Manikandan		INC	S. Senthil Kumaran
14	Raj Bhavan		AINRC	K. Lakshminarayanan		DMK	S.P. Sivakumar
15	Oupalam		AIADMK	A. Anbalagan		DMK	V. Annibal Kennedy
16	Orleampeth		AIADMK	Omsakthi Sekar		DMK	S. Gopal
17	Nellithope		BJP	Vivilian Richards Johnkumar		DMK	V. Karthikeyan
18	Mudaliarpet		AIADMK	A. Baskar		DMK	L. Sampath
19	Ariankuppam		AINRC	R.Datchanamourtty		INC	T. Jayamurthy
20	Manavely		BJP	Embalam R. Selvam		INC	R. K. R. Anantharaman
21	Embalam (SC)		AINRC	U.LakshmiKandhan		INC	M. kandassamy
22	Nettapakkam (SC)		AINRC	P.Rajavelu		INC	V.Vijayaveny
23	Bahour		AINRC	N.Danavelu		DMK	R. Senthil Kumar
Karaikal District
24	Nedungadu (SC)		AINRC	S.ChandraPriyanga		INC	A. Marimuthu
25	Thirunallar		BJP	G. N. S. Rajasekaran		INC	R. Kamalakannan
26	Karaikal North		AINRC	P.R.N Thirumurugan		INC	A. V. Subramanian
27	Karaikal South		AIADMK	K. A. U. Asana		DMK	A.M.H. Nazeem
28	Neravy T R Pattinam		BJP	V. M. C. S. Manokaran		DMK	M. Nagathiyagarajan
Mahe District
29	Mahe		AINRC	V. P. Abdul Rahman		INC	Ramesh Parambath
Yanam District
30	Yanam		AINRC	N. Rangaswamy		IND	Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok

Polls and surveys

Opinion polls

Date	Polling agency				Lead
		NDA	UPA	Others
3 April 2021	Thanthi TV [13]	21-27	3-9	0	12-24
24 March 2021	Patriotic Voter [14]	17-18	10-12	0-3	6
15 March 2021	ABP News – CVoter [15]	16-20	10-14	0	2-10
8 March 2021	Times Now – CVoter [16]	18	12	0	6
1 March 2021	Patriotic Voter [14]	19	11	0	8

Exit polls

Date published	Polling agency				Lead
		NDA	UPA	Others
29 April 2021	Republic TV –CNX [17]	16-20	11-13	-	5-7
29 April 2021	Patriotic Voter [14]	18	12	-	6
29 April 2021	ABP News – CVoter [17]	19-23	6-10	1-2	9-17

Voter Turnout

Turnout ^{[18] [19]}

District	Vote %
Karaikal	80.07
Mahé	73.53
Puducherry	82.01
Yanam	91.27
Total	83.42

Result

16	9	5
NDA	UPA	IND

Vote share by alliance

1. NDA (43.6%)
2. UPA (37.9%)
3. Others (18.5%)

Seat share by alliance

1. NDA (53.3%)
2. UPA (30.0%)
3. IND (16.7%)

Party		Votes	Vote %	Swing	Conts	Won	Change
	All India N.R. Congress	216,249	25.85	2.3	16	10	2
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	154,858	18.51	9.6	13	6	4
	Indian National Congress	131,393	15.71	14.9	14	2	13
	Bharatiya Janata Party	114,298	13.66	11.3	9	6	6
	Independents	106,098	12.68			6	5
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	34,623	4.14	12.7	5	0	4
	Naam Tamilar Katchi	28,189	3.37	2.9	28	0
	Makkal Needhi Maiam	15,825	1.89	1.89	22	0	New Party
	Communist Party of India	7,522	0.90	0.2	1	0
	None of the above	10,803	1.29	0.4
Total		836,562	100		30	30
Valid votes		836,562	99.88
Invalid votes		981	0.12
Votes cast / turnout		837,543	83.42
Registered voters		1,004,507
Source:Election Commission of India [20]

Results by party and alliance

Source ^[21]

NDA		Seats	UPA		Seats	Others		Seats
AINRC		10	INC		2	IND		6
BJP		6	DMK		6
Total		16	Total		8	Total		6
Change		5	Change		9	Change		4

Results by district

District	Seats
		NDA	UPA	Others
Puducherry	23	14	5	4
Karaikal	5	2	2	1
Mahe	1	0	1	0
Yanam	1	0	0	1
Total	30	16	8	6

Results by constituency

Results ^{[22] [23]}

Constituency & Turnout			Winner					Runner-up					Margin
#	Name	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%
Puducherry District
1	Mannadipet	89.10	A. Namassivayam		BJP	14,939	51.82	A. Krishnan		DMK	12,189	42.28	2,750
2	Thirubuvanai (SC)	87.61	P. Angalane		IND	10,597	36.78	B. Kobiga		AINRC	8,238	28.60	2,359
3	Ossudu (SC)	89.50	A. K. Saravanankumar		BJP	14,121	48.78	P. Karthikeyan		INC	12,241	42.29	1,880
4	Mangalam	87.75	C. Djeacoumar		AINRC	16,972	50.89	Sun. Kumaravel		DMK	14,221	42.64	2,751
5	Villianur	83.08	R. Siva		DMK	19,653	55.73	S.V. Sugumaran		AINRC	12,703	36.02	6,950
6	Ozhukarai	77.83	M. Sivasankar		IND	11,940	36.50	N.G. Pannir Selvam		AINRC	11,121	34.00	819
7	Kadirkamam	78.04	S. Ramesh		AINRC	17,775	65.82	P. Selvanadane		INC	5,529	20.47	12,246
8	Indira Nagar	82.04	A. K. D. Arumugam		AINRC	21,841	74.77	M. Kannan		INC	3,310	11.33	18,531
9	Thattanchavady	76.89	N. Rangasamy		AINRC	12,978	55.02	K. Sethu Selvam		CPI	7,522	31.89	5,456
10	Kamaraj Nagar	78.65	A. Johnkumar		BJP	16,687	56.11	M. O. H. F. Shahjahan		INC	9,458	31.80	7,229
11	Lawspet	80.67	M. Vaithianathan		INC	14,592	55.60	V. Saminathan		BJP	8,891	33.88	5,701
12	Kalapet	85.87	P. M. L. Kalyanasundaram		BJP	13,277	44.63	A. Senthil Ramesh		IND	9,769	32.84	3,508
13	Muthialpet	78.64	J. Prakash Kumar		IND	8,778	37.48	Vaiyapuri Manikandan		AIADMK	7,844	33.49	934
14	Raj Bhavan	73.93	K. Lakshminarayanan		AINRC	10,096	51.86	S.P. Sivakumar		DMK	6,364	32.69	3,732
15	Oupalam	85.06	Annibal Kennedy		DMK	13,433	56.64	A. Anbalagan		AIADMK	8,653	36.48	4,780
16	Orleampeth	81.95	G. Nehru Kuppusamy		IND	9,580	47.29	S. Gopal		DMK	7,487	36.96	2,093
17	Nellithope	82.56	V. R. Johnkumar		BJP	11,757	42.26	V. Karthikeyan		DMK	11,261	40.47	496
18	Mudaliarpet	83.01	L. Sambath		DMK	15,151	51.30	A. Baskar		AIADMK	10,972	37.15	4,179
19	Ariankuppam	84.23	R. Baskar Datchanamourtty		AINRC	17,858	54.32	T. Jayamoorthy		INC	11,440	34.80	6,418
20	Manavely	86.74	Embalam R. Selvam		BJP	17,225	57.54	R. K. R. Anantharaman		INC	9,093	30.37	8,132
21	Embalam (SC)	88.76	U. Lakshmikandhan		AINRC	15,624	50.85	M. Candassamy		INC	13,384	43.56	2,240
22	Nettapakkam (SC)	86.93	P. Rajavelu		AINRC	15,978	56.82	V. Vijayaveny		INC	9,340	33.21	6,638
23	Bahour	89.60	R. Senthilkumar		DMK	11,789	44.56	N. Dhanavelou		AINRC	11,578	43.76	201
Karaikal District
24	Nedungadu (SC)	84.92	S. Chandra Priyanga		AINRC	10,774	40.20	A. Marimuthu		INC	8,560	31.94	2,214
25	Thirunallar	85.93	P. R. Siva		IND	9,551	36.45	S. Rajasekaran		BJP	8,416	31.32	1,380
26	Karaikal North	79.43	P. R. N. Thirumurugan		AINRC	12,704	44.85	A. V. Subramanian		INC	12,569	44.38	135
27	Karaikal South	76.54	A. M. H. Nazeem		DMK	17,401	71.15	K. A. U. Asana		AIADMK	5,367	21.95	12,034
28	Neravy T R Pattinam	83.40	M. Nagathiyagarajan		DMK	14,496	55.74	V. M. C. S. Manokaran		BJP	8,985	34.55	5,511
Mahe District
29	Mahe	75.29	Ramesh Parambath		INC	9,744	41.63	N. Haridasan Master		IND	9,444	40.35	300
Yanam District
30	Yanam	92.31	Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok		IND	17,131	49.04	N. Rangasamy		AINRC	16,475	47.17	655

Government formation

Further information: Fourth Rangaswamy ministry

As the NDA achieved a majority in the elections, the AINRC–BJP combine formed the next government. ^[24] The lieutenant governor appointed three members to the assembly, all of whom belonged to the BJP, raising its count to nine in the assembly. ^[25] Furthermore, the six independent members pledged support to the government, increasing its strength to 25 in the 33-member assembly. Rangaswamy was sworn in as the chief minister of Puducherry for the fourth time on 7 May 2021. ^[26] On 8 June, the alliance announced that the BJP would get two ministers and the post of the assembly speaker, while AIRNC got three ministers. ^[27]

See also

• 2021 elections in India
• 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election
• 2019 Indian general election in Puducherry

References

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Notes

1. Congress did not contest in Yanam and extended support to the independent. ^[11]