May 14, 2011

Puducherry: Cong shocked by splinter group

PUDUCHERRY: In a major turnaround, All India NR Congress alliance got a clear majority in 2011 assembly elections, winning 20 of the total 30 assembly seats in the Union territory of Puducherry. The Congress splinter group and its allies ended 12 years of Congress rule in Puducherry.

All India NR Congress floated by former chief minister N Rangasamy after quitting the Congress ahead of the 2011 polls emerged as the single largest party by winning 15 of the 17 seats it contested. Its ally AIADMK bagged five of the 10 it contested.

However, its other allies, DMDK and CPI, that contested one seat each drew a blank. A jubilant Rangasamy while speaking to reporters said he expected his alliance to win the polls and added that the victory was the wish of the Puducherry people.

The Congress alliance managed to secure just nine seats. Congress won just seven of the 17 seats it contested. The DMK fared poorly, winning two of the 10 seats it contested. PMK drew a blank losing both the seats it contested. Another ally, VCK, whose candidate was technically declared as an independent, also lost the polls.

Rangasamy, who contested from two assembly segments, emerged victorious with thumping margins. He polled 16,323 votes from Kadirkamam as against 6,566 votes polled by the next candidate V Pethaperumal of the Congress. He polled 20,685 votes in Indira Nagar as against 4,008 votes polled by his only rival candidate V Aroumougam of Congress.

Other prominent winners include chief minister V Vaithilingam, home minister E Valsaraj, revenue minister Malladi Krishna Rao and public health minister A Namassivayam.

PWD minister MOHF Shahjahan, welfare minister M Kandasamy, speaker of legislative assembly R Radhakrishnan and former chief minister and DMK convener RV Janakiraman lost the electoral battle.

Shahjahan lost the polls to PML Kalyanasundaram of NR Congress by 6,366 votes and Kandasamy to his arch-rival and former minister P Rajavelu of NR Congress by a slender margin of 1,468 votes.

Radhakrishnan lost the polls to T Thiagarajan by 2,055 votes. Five-time MLA Janakiraman lost to AIADMK candidate Om Sakthi Sekar by a margin of 4,518 votes.

Malladi Krishna Rao (Yanam) recorded the highest margin of victory in this election with 19,118 votes followed by Rangasamy (Indira Nagar) with 16,677 votes while an independent candidate, VMC Sivakumar, managed to win with a slender margin of 358 votes.

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