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Assembly Polls: Countdown for battle Puducherry begins
The countdown for the assembly elections in Puducherry that will seal the fate of 324 candidates across 30 constituencies on Tuesday has begun.
Puducherry: The countdown for the assembly elections in Puducherry that will seal the fate of 324 candidates across 30 constituencies on Tuesday has begun.
With campaigning coming to an end, both NDA and Congress have expressed confidence they will form the government in Puducherry.
During campaigning, while Rahul Gandhi held the reins of Congress in the Union Territory, BJP's camp witnessed high-profile rallies from an array of leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda. Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan too campaigned for his party in the UT.
BJP during its campaigning had projected the erstwhile Congress government as incapable and pushed the development agenda. It promised 'special Union territory' status to Puducherry and to increase devolution of funds from 25 per cent to 40 per cent as done in Jammu and Kashmir to ensure development.Congress has not fielded any candidate from Yanam constituency, the second seat from where AINRC chief N Rangasamy is contesting and is supporting an Independent candidate Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok. To Narayanasamy, the party has given the responsibility of campaign and election management.
It is pertinent to note that even in the 2016 election, Narayanasamy was not the choice of MLAs since he had not contested the Assembly elections. He had become the Chief Minister without contesting the polls and entered the Assembly by winning a by-election subsequently.
Among the key candidates ofCongress, P Selvanadane will contest from Kardirgamam assembly seat, M Kannan from Indira Nagar, Karthikeyan from Oussudu, and Ramesh Preambath from Mahe.
Polling for 30 assembly seats in Puducherry will be held on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. Of the 30 assembly seats, five are reserved for the Scheduled Caste candidates. A total of 10,04,507 electors will exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 324 candidates inPuducherry. (ANI)