A legislative assembly election was held in the Indian union territory of Puducherry on 13 April 2011 to elect members from thirty constituencies in the non-contiguous territory. This election was meant to constitute the Thirteenth Assembly of Pondicherry.Election Commission of India. Schedule for holding General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Puducherry
Candidates 26 March 2011 marked the last day to complete nominations for the elections. 30 March 2011 was the last day for possible withdrawal of nominations. 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. The counting of the votes was scheduled for 13 May 2011.
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.
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 (general secretary of AIADMK) and Vijayakanth (general secretary of DMDK).
Election Over 810,000 voters were eligible to take part in the polls.
Parties and alliances Prominent Parties Party/Alliance FlagElectoral symbolLeaderSeats contestedrowspan=3 UPAIndian National CongressV. Vaithilingam17Dravida Munnetra KazhagamR. Siva10Pattali Makkal Katchi S. Ramadoss 2rowspan=5 AINRC+All India N.R. Congress N. Rangaswamy16 + 1*All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam A. Anbalagan10Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam R. Selvaraj 1Communist Party of India Na. Ra. Kalainathan 1Communist Party of India (Marxist) V. Perumal 1 + 1* NOTE: In Constituency 11 (Lawspet), both the AINRC and CPI(M) fielded candidates against each other. In Constituency 24, Nedungadu, no candidate was fielded by the INC, DMK, or PMK
List of Candidates District ConstituencyUPAAINRC+ # Name Party Candidate Party Candidate Puducherry 1 Mannadipet K. P. K. Arul Murugan T. P. R. Selvame 2 Thirubuvanai (SC) K. Jayaraj P. Angalane 3 Ossudu (SC) A. Elumalai P. Karthikeyan 4 Mangalam C. Djeacoumar P. Anandabaskaran 5 Villianur A. Namassivayam K. Nadarajan 6 Ozhukarai A. Johnkumar N.G. Pannirselvam 7 Kadirkamam V. Pethaperumal N. Rangaswamy 8 Indira Nagar V. Aroumougam N. Rangaswamy 9 Thattanchavady A. Ilango Ashok Anand 10 Kamaraj Nagar V. Vaithilingam Nara. Kalainathan 11 Lawspet V. P. Sivakolundhu M. Vaithianathan 12 Kalapet M. O. H. F. Shahjahan P. M. L. Kalyanasundaram 13 Muthialpet Nandha. T. Saravanan A. Kasilingam 14 Raj Bhavan K. Lakshminarayan M. Saravanakumar 15 Oupalam Annibal Kennedy A. Anbalagan 16 Orleampeth R. Siva G. Nehru 17 Nellithope R. V. Janakiraman Omsakthi Sekar 18 Mudaliarpet M.A.S. Subramanian A. Baskar 19 Ariankuppam T. Djeamourthy V. Sabapathy 20 Manavely R. K. R. Anantharaman P. Purushothaman 21 Embalam (SC) M. Candassamy P. Rajavelu 22 Nettapakkam (SC) S. Muthukumarasamy L. Periyasamy 23 Bahour R. Radhakrishnan T. Thiagarajan Karaikal 24 Nedungadu (SC) M. Chandhrakasu 25 Thirunallar R. Kamalakannan P. R. Siva 26 Karaikal North P. R. N. Thirumurugan M. V. Omalingam 27 Karaikal South A. M. H. Nazeem K. A. U. Asana 28 Neravy T R Pattinam Anandan Geetha Er. M. Selvaraj Mahe 29 Mahe E. Valsaraj T. K. Gangadharan Yanam 30 Yanam Malladi Krishna Rao Manchala Satya Sai Kumar
Results Parties and Coalitions Votes Vote % Vote swing Contested Won ChangeAll India N.R. Congress2,21,55231.75171515Indian National Congress 1,85,14926.531773All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 95,96013.751052Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam74,55210.681025Pattali Makkal Katchi17,3422.48202Bharatiya Janata Party9,1831.32200Communist Party of India (Marxist)7,8401.1220Communist Party of India6,5410.94101Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam5,9660.85%10Independents70,59510.127912Total 6,97,900100.0 30
Aftermath results N. Rangasamy of AINRC, who won 15 seats, formed government without consulting the AIADMK and was accused of betraying the coalition by J. Jayalalithaa. AINRC secured a majority with the support of an independent V. M. C. Sivakumar. However, the AINRC's hastiness in forming the government and refusal to share power with pre-election alliance partner AIADMK proved costly in the subsequent elections in 2016.
Results by constituency DistrictConstituencyWinnerRunner-upMarginCandidateParty Votes %CandidateParty Votes % Votes % Puducherry1MannadipetT. P. R. SelvameAINRC12,41249.56K. P. K. Arul MuruganPMK7,69630.734,71618.832Thirubhuvanai (SC)P. AngalaneAINRC13,73359.02K. JayarajINC8,96538.534,76820.493Oussudu (SC)P. KarthikeyanAINRC13,32758.78A. ElumalaiDMK8,16936.035,15822.754MangalamC. DjeacoumarINC14,05252.59P. AnandabaskaranAINRC11,75944.012,2938.585VillianurA. NamassivayamINC13,10552.03K. NadarajanAINRC11,56445.911,5416.126OzhukaraiN. G. Pannir SelvamAINRC9,07137.77A. N. BalaneIND7,50531.251,5666.527KadirgamamN. RangaswamyAINRC16,32370.02V. PethaperumalINC6,56628.169,75741.868Indira NagarN. RangaswamyAINRC20,68583.77V. AroumougamINC4,00816.2316,67767.549ThattanchavadyAshok AnandAINRC14,59767.99N. ArjunanIND4,09119.0510,50648.9410Kamaraj NagarV. VaithilingamINC12,57059.01Nara KalainathanCPI6,54130.706,02928.3111LawspetM. VaithianathanAINRC10,18951.79V. P. SivakolundhuINC4,75724.185,43227.6112KalapetP. M. L. KalyanasundaramAINRC14,13262.43M. O. H. F. ShahjahanINC7,76634.316,36628.1213MuthialpetNandha. T. SaravananDMK10,36447.82A. KasilingamADMK7,38834.092,97613.7314Raj BhavanK. LakshminarayananINC11,39859.57M. SaravanakumarADMK4,32722.627,07136.9515OupalamA. AnbalaganADMK9,53642.59N. AnandIND6,33228.283,20414.3116OrleampethG. Nehru KuppusamyAINRC10,98655.26R. SivaDMK8,36842.092,61813.1717NellithopeOmsakthi SekarADMK13,30158.51R. V. JanakiramanDMK8,78338.634,51819.8818MudaliarpetA. BaskarADMK17,01667.15M. A. S. SubramanianDMK7,28928.769,72738.3919AriankuppamV. SabapathyAINRC13,38149.12T. DjeamourthyINC10,75039.472,6319.6520ManavelyP. PurushothamanADMK13,97957.98R. K. R. AnantharamanPMK9,64640.014,33317.9721Embalam (SC)P. RajaveluAINRC12,93351.95M. CandassamyINC11,46546.061,4685.8922Nettapakkam (SC)L. PeriyasamyADMK14,68659.80S. MuthukumarasamyINC9,21937.545,46722.2623BahourT. ThiagarajanAINRC12,28453.42R. RadhakrishnanINC10,22944.492,0558.93 Karaikal24Nedungadu (SC)M. ChandhrakasuAINRC12,47455.05A. MarimuthuIND4,98422.007,49033.0525ThirunallarP. R. SivaAINRC11,70250.77R. KamalakannanINC10,86247.128403.6526Karaikal NorthP. R. N. ThirumuruganINC12,15555.69V. OmalingamADMK8,79540.293,36015.4027Karaikal SouthA. M. H. NazeemDMK8,37739.37V. K. GanapathyIND6,80131.961,5767.4128Neravy T.R. PattinamV. M. C. SivakumarIND8,86039.30A. GeethaDMK8,50237.723581.58 Mahe29MaheE. ValsarajINC13,29760.51T. K. GangadharanCPI(M)7,19332.736,10427.78 Yanam30YanamMalladi Krishna RaoINC23,98580.95M. Satya Sai KumarADMK4,86716.4319,11864.52
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