TVK Goes Solo in Puducherry Polls; Announces Candidates on All 30 Seats
The party will contest independently in the polls scheduled for April 9, with vote counting set for May 4
Puducherry: Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Sunday announced a list of 30 candidates for the upcoming 2026 Puducherry Legislative Assembly elections. The party will contest independently in the polls scheduled for April 9, with vote counting set for May 4.
The current term of the 30-member Puducherry Legislative Assembly is due to expire on June 15. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the All India NR Congress (AINRC) emerged as the largest party with 10 seats, followed by DMK with six seats, while BJP and Congress secured six seats each. The voter turnout stood at 84.8 per cent.
In comparison, the 2016 elections saw Congress winning a majority with 15 seats. AINRC secured eight seats, AIADMK won four, and DMK got two seats. The voter turnout at that time was recorded at 83.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, the BJP released its first list of nine candidates on March 21, contesting in alliance with AINRC. The party’s Central Election Committee had met on March 18 to finalize candidates for poll-bound states.
According to the BJP list, A Namassivayam will contest from Mannadipet, E Theeppainthan from Oussoudu (SC), PML Kalyanasundaram from Kalapet, VP Ramalingame from Raj Bhavan, and A Johnkumar from Mudaliarpet. Embalam R Selvam will contest from Manavely, GNS Rajasekaran from Thirunallar, and A Dineshan from Mahe.
In a related development, Independent MLA M Sivasankar, who won the 2021 election from the Ozhukarai constituency, joined the Congress party in the presence of Puducherry in-charge Girish Chodankar and local leaders ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
