Puducherry has voted the Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance to power, throwing out the All India NR Congress government. The Congress became the single-largest party and won 15 seats in the 30-member Assembly, while its ally won two constituencies to help the alliance cross the halfway majority mark of 16. The union territory saw an 84% voter turnout on polling day on May 16.
Chief Minister N Rangasamy's AINRC won only eight seats, including the crucial Indira Nagar constituency represented by him. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam won four seats, while one went to an Independent candidate.
The election results threw up some major upsets, such as Congress veteran E Valsaraj losing to Independent candidate V Ramachandran in the Mahe constituency. Other heavyweights who lost included the AINRC's P Rajavelu and NG Pannirselvam, and Speaker V Sabapathy. The AIADMK's P Kannan also lost to his protege K Lakshminarayan from the Congress in the Raj Bhavan constituency, reported The Hindu.
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