Puducherry Legislative Assembly election, 2011

Puducherry legislative assembly election, 2011
India
April 13, 2011 (2011-04-13)
All 30 seats to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly
15 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader N. Rangaswamy V. Vaithilingam
Party AINRC INC
Leader since 7 February 2011 4 September 2008
Leader's seat Indira Nagar Kamraj Nagar
Last election New 10
Seats before New 10
Seats won 15 7
Seat change Increase 15 Decrease 3
Percentage 31.75% 25.06%

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 April 13, 2011 to elect members from thirty constituencies in the non-contiguous territory.[1]

Candidates

March 26, 2011 marked the last day to complete nominations for the elections. March 30, 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 May 13, 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 (leader of AIADMK) and Vijayakanth (leader of DMDK).[2]

Election

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

Results

Party Contested Won Change Vote %
  All India N.R. Congress 17 15

Increase15

 31.75%
  Indian National Congress 17 7 Decrease3 25.06%
  All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 10 5 Increase2 -
  Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 10 2 Decrease5 -
  Independents 79 1 Decrease5 -
Total - 30 - -

References

  1. 1 2 3 Election Commission of India. Schedule for holding General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Puducherry
  2. 1 2 3 4 The Hindu. Campaigning ends in Puducherry
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