# 2021 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election

The fifteenth legislative assembly election was held on 6 April 2021 to elect members from 30 constituencies of the 15th Puducherry Assembly in the union territory of Puducherry in India. The National democratic alliance has won a simple majority

## Background

In the previous elections in 2016, the election brought a change of power as the All India N.R. Congress (AINRC), which had formed the government under N. Rangaswamy, lost its majority to the Indian National Congress (INC), led by V. Narayanasamy.
In the previous elections in 2016 Indian National Congress (INC) emerged as Single Largest Party with 15 seats, with the support of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) the government was formed. However, a trust vote was called after five MLAs of the Congress, including two ministers, and one DMK MLA resigned from the Assembly. Two of the Congress leaders had joined the BJP which is in alliance with Opposition NR Congress in the Union Territory. The ruling party lost the trust vote after the speaker decided to accept votes from nominated MLAs on equal standing to the elected ones. The outgoing chief minister Narayanasamy commented that the Lieutenant Governor, who was a former president of BJP, had appointed members of her own party for all nominated seats, including one who garnished only 174 votes when he contested in regular elections.
After the 2021 election, the Lt Governor once again granted all the non-elected MLAs to BJP, and thus making it the second largest party with 1/3rd of the seats solely from nominated members rather than directly elected by the people.

## Schedule

| Event | Date |
| Date for Nominations | 12 March 2021 |
| Last Date for filing Nominations | 19 March 2021 |
| Date for scrutiny of nominations | 20 March 2021 |
| Last date for withdrawal of candidatures | 22 March 2021 |
| Date of poll | 6 April 2021 |
| Date of counting | 2 May 2021 |
| Date before which the election shall be completed | 24 May 2021 |

## Parties and alliances
### Secular Progressive Alliance+United Progressive Alliance

| Party | Party | Leader | Contesting Seats |
| 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 |
CPIM contested the Muthialpet seat and supported the alliance in all other seats.

### National Democratic Alliance

| Party | Party | Leader | Contesting Seats |
| 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 |
PMK supports this alliance without contesting in any seat.

### Parties not in any coalition

| Party | Party | Leader | Contesting Seats |
| 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 :
| Constituency | Constituency | UPA | UPA | UPA | NDA | NDA | NDA |
| # | Name | Party | Party | Candidate | Party | Party | Candidate |
| Puducherry District ||||||||
| 1 | Mannadipet | | DMK | A. Krishnan | | BJP | A. Namassivayam |
| 2 | Thirubuvanai (SC) | | DMK | A. Mugilan | | AINRC | B.Gobika |
| 3 | Ossudu (SC) | | INC | P. Karthikeyan | | BJP | J. Saravana Kumar |
| 4 | Mangalam | | DMK | Sankumaravel | | AINRC | C. Jayakumar |
| 5 | Villianur | | DMK | R. Siva | | AINRC | S.V.Sugumaran |
| 6 | Ozhukarai | | VCK | D.Angalane | | AINRC | G.Pannirselvam |
| 7 | Kadirkamam | | INC | P. Selvanathan | | AINRC | S.Ramesh |
| 8 | Indira Nagar | | INC | M. Kannan | | AINRC | V. Arumugam A.K.D. |
| 9 | Thattanchavady | | CPI | K. Sethu Selvam | | AINRC | N. Rangaswamy |
| 10 | Kamaraj Nagar | | INC | M. O. H. F. Shahjahan | | BJP | A. Johnkumar |
| 11 | Lawspet | | INC | M. Vaithianathan | | BJP | V. Saminathan |
| 12 | Kalapet | | DMK | S. Muthuvel | | BJP | P. M. L. Kalyanasundaram |
| 13 | Muthialpet | | INC | S. Senthil Kumaran | | AIADMK | Vaiyapuri Manikandan |
| 14 | Raj Bhavan | | DMK | S.P. Sivakumar | | AINRC | K. Lakshminarayanan |
| 15 | Oupalam | | DMK | V. Annibal Kennedy | | AIADMK | A. Anbalagan |
| 16 | Orleampeth | | DMK | S. Gopal | | AIADMK | Omsakthi Sekar |
| 17 | Nellithope | | DMK | V. Karthikeyan | | BJP | Vivilian Richards Johnkumar |
| 18 | Mudaliarpet | | DMK | L. Sampath | | AIADMK | A. Baskar |
| 19 | Ariankuppam | | INC | T. Jayamurthy | | AINRC | R.Datchanamourtty |
| 20 | Manavely | | INC | R. K. R. Anantharaman | | BJP | Embalam R. Selvam |
| 21 | Embalam (SC) | | INC | M. kandassamy | | AINRC | U.LakshmiKandhan |
| 22 | Nettapakkam (SC) | | INC | V.Vijayaveny | | AINRC | P.Rajavelu |
| 23 | Bahour | | DMK | R. Senthil Kumar | | AINRC | N.Danavelu |
| Karaikal District ||||||||
| 24 | Nedungadu (SC) | | INC | A. Marimuthu | | AINRC | S.ChandraPriyanga |
| 25 | Thirunallar | | INC | R. Kamalakannan | | BJP | G. N. S. Rajasekaran |
| 26 | Karaikal North | | INC | A. V. Subramanian | | AINRC | P.R.N Thirumurugan |
| 27 | Karaikal South | | DMK | A.M.H. Nazeem | | AIADMK | K. A. U. Asana |
| 28 | Neravy T R Pattinam | | DMK | M. Nagathiyagarajan | | BJP | V. M. C. S. Manokaran |
| Mahe District ||||||||
| 29 | Mahe | | INC | Ramesh Parambath | | AINRC | V. P. Abdul Rahman |
| Yanam District ||||||||
| 30 | Yanam | | IND | Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok | | AINRC | N. Rangaswamy |

## Polls and surveys
### Opinion polls

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

### Exit polls

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

## Voter Turnout

| S.No. | District | Vote % |
| 1. | Karaikal | 80.07 |
| 2. | Puducherry | 82.01 |
| 3. | Yanam | 91.27 |
| 4. | Mahé | 73.53 |
| Total | Total | 81.69 |

## Result

| 16 | 9 | 5 |
| NDA | UPA | IND |
* NDA (43.6%)
* UPA (37.9%)
* Others (18.5%)
* NDA (53.33%)
* UPA (30%)
* IND (16.67%)
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 |
| | Bharatiya Janata Party | 114,298 | 13.66 | 11.3 | 9 | 6 | 6 |
| | Independents | 106,098 | 12.68 | | | 6 | 5 |
| | Indian National Congress | 131,393 | 15.71 | 14.9 | 14 | 2 | 13 |
| | 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 | Total | 8,36,562 | 100 | | 30 | 30 | |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 8,36,562 | 99.88 | | | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 981 | 0.12 | | | | |
| Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | 8,37,543 | 83.38 | | | | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 10,04,507 | | | | | |

### Results by party and alliance

| NDA | NDA | SEATS | UPA | UPA | SEATS | Others | Others | SEATS |
| AINRC | | 10 | INC | | 2 | IND | | 5 |
| BJP | | 6 | DMK | | 6 | | | |
| | | | IND | | 1 | | | |
| Total | Total | 16 | Total | Total | 9 | Total | Total | 5 |
| Change | Change | 4 | Change | Change | 8 | Change | Change | 4 |

### Results by district

| District | Seats | | | |
| District | Seats | NDA | UPA | Oth. |
| Puducherry | 23 | 14 | 5 | 4 |
| Karaikal | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Mahe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Yanam | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 30 | 16 | 9 | 5 |

## Results by constituency

Results :
| Constituency & Turnout | Constituency & Turnout | Constituency & Turnout | Winner | Winner | Winner | Winner | Winner | Runner Up | Runner Up | Runner Up | Runner Up | Runner Up | Margin |
| # | Name | % | Candidate | Party | Party | Votes | % | Candidate | Party | Party | Votes | % | Margin |
| 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

Even though results for the election were declared on 2 May, the government formation was finalized on 8 June. The results were with NDA winning 16 seats (AIRNC :- 10, BJP :- 6) and UPA winning 9 seats (DMK :- 6, INC :- 2, Independent :- 1) and 5 Independents not backed by either of the alliance won. Immediately the NDA unanimously elected N. Rangaswamy from AIRNC as the CM, and the UPA elected R.Siva from the DMK as the Leader Of Opposition. Post results the central government nominated 3 MLAs affiliated to the BJP, thereby taking NDA to 19 seats and BJP to 9. Furthermore, before the swearing in of the government, 3 Independent MLAs pledged support to AIRNC and 2 Independent MLAs pledged support to BJP, also the 1 Independent MLA backed by UPA during election later switched allegiance to BJP. The NDA MLAs increased to 25 and UPA decreased to 8. Even after the swearing in ceremony of the CM, the talks between AIRNC and BJP on cabinet composition and assembly speaker continued for more than a month. On 8 June the alliance announced that the BJP would get 2 ministers and the post of assembly speaker, while AIRNC will get 3 ministers.