Puducherry assembly poll results: Key takeaways
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The All India NR Congress-led National Democratic Alliance, including BJP and ADMK, would form the government in Puducherry. The alliance won 16 seats, while the Congress alliance was limited to 8, and others won six. The BJP won 6 seats while the ADMK, which had 4 seats back in 2016, has been wiped clean.
Former Minister A Namassivayam and A John Kumar, both of whom left the Congress in the desertion spree that led to the downfall of the Narayanasamy-led government, won in this election. While John Kumar defeated former Congress Minister MOHF Shahjahan by a margin of over 7,000 votes, Namassivayam defeated DMK's A Krishnan by over 2,500. John Kumar's son, Richards John Kumar of the BJP, also won in Nellithope, defeating DMK's V Karthikeyan by about 500 votes.
Former Congress legislator K Lakshminarayanan of the AINRC also won against the DMK's SP Sivakumar in Raj Bhavan. Former Chief Minister and AINRC chief N Rangasamy won in his Thattanchavady constituency defeating CPI's K Sethu Selvan. However, he was defeated by Independent candidate Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok in Yanam. Congress defectors KSP Ramesh and V Aroumougame won in Kadirgamam and Indira Nagar respectively, defeating their Congress opponents.
While the NRC alliance has a vote share of 44%, Congress has about 43%. Congress candidates won in merely two constituencies; Rameshan Parambath won in Mahe and M Vaithianathan in Lawspet.
The AMMK alliance, which contested in 29 seats, continues without seats in the union territory.