2011 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election

Summary

A legislative assembly election was held in the Indian union territory of Puducherry 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.[1]

2011 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election

← 2006 13 April 2011 (2011-04-13) 2016 →

All 30 seats to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly
16 seats needed for a majority
Turnout86.19%
  First party Second party
 
Leader N. Rangaswamy V. Vaithilingam
Party AINRC INC
Leader since 7 February 2011 4 September 2008
Last election New 10
Seats before New 10
Seats won 15 7
Seat change Steady Decrease 3
Percentage 31.75% 25.06%


Chief Minister before election

V. Vaithilingam
INC

Elected Chief Minister

N. Rangaswamy
AINRC

Candidates edit

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.[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 13 May 2011.[1]

Campaign edit

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 (general secretary of AIADMK) and Vijayakanth (general secretary of DMDK).[2]

Election edit

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

Parties and alliances edit

Source: [3]

  Secular Progressive Alliance edit

Party Symbol Leader Contesting Seats
Indian National Congress INC   V. Vaithilingam 17
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam DMK   R. Siva 10

  AINRC-AIADMK Alliance edit

Party Symbol Leader Contesting Seats
All India N.R. Congress AINRC   N. Rangasamy 17
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam AIADMK   A. Anbalagan 10

Results edit

 
Parties and Coalitions Votes Vote % Vote swing Contested Won Change
All India N.R. Congress 2,21,552 31.75 17 15  15
Indian National Congress 1,85,149 26.53 17 7  3
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 95,960 13.75 10 5  2
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 74,552 10.68 10 2  5
Pattali Makkal Katchi 17,342 2.48 2 0  2
Bharatiya Janata Party 9,183 1.32 20 0  
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 7,840 1.12 2 0  
Communist Party of India 6,541 0.94 1 0  1
Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam 5,966 0.85% 1 0  
Independents 70,595 10.12 79 1  2
Total 6,97,900 100.0 30

Aftermath results edit

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.[4] 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.[5]

Results by constituency edit

Results
Assembly Constituency Winner Runner Up Margin
# Name Candidate Party Votes Candidate Party Votes
Puducherry District
1 Mannadipet T. P. R. Selvame All India N.R. Congress 12412 K.P.K. Arul Murugan Pattali Makkal Katchi 7696 4716
2 Thirubuvanai P. Angalane All India N.R. Congress 13733 K. Jayaraj Indian National Congress 8965 4768
3 Ossudu P. Karthikeyan All India N.R. Congress 13327 A. Elumalai Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 8169 5158
4 Mangalam C.Djeacoumar Indian National Congress 14052 P. Anandabaskaran All India N.R. Congress 11759 2293
5 Villianur A. Namassivayam Indian National Congress 13105 K. Nadarajan All India N.R. Congress 11564 1541
6 Ozhukarai N.G. Pannirselvam All India N.R. Congress 9071 A.N. Balane Independent 7505 1566
7 Kadirkamam N. Rangaswamy All India N.R. Congress 16323 V. Pethaperumal Indian National Congress 6566 9757
8 Indira Nagar N. Rangaswamy All India N.R. Congress 20685 V. Aroumougam Indian National Congress 4008 16677
9 Thattanchavady Ashok Anand All India N.R. Congress 14597 N. Arjunan Independent 4091 10506
10 Kamaraj Nagar V. Vaithilingam Indian National Congress 12570 Nara. Kalainathan Communist Party Of India 6541 6029
11 Lawspet M. Vaithianathan All India N.R. Congress 10189 V.P. Sivakolundhu Indian National Congress 4757 5432
12 Kalapet P.M.L. Kalyanasundaram All India N.R. Congress 14132 M. O. H. F. Shahjahan Indian National Congress 7766 6366
13 Muthialpet Nandha. T. Saravanan Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 10364 A. Kasilingam All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 7388 2976
14 Raj Bhavan K. Lakshminarayan Indian National Congress 11398 M. Saravanakumar All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 4327 7071
15 Oupalam A. Anbalagan All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 9536 Bussy N. Anand Independent 6332 3204
16 Orleampeth G.Nehru All India N.R. Congress 10986 R. Siva Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 8368 2618
17 Nellithope Omsakthi Sekar All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 13301 R. V. Janakiraman Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 8783 4518
18 Mudaliarpet A. Baskar All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 17016 M.A.S. Subramanian Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 7289 9727
19 Ariankuppam V.Sabapathy All India N.R. Congress 13381 T. Djeamourthy Indian National Congress 10750 2631
20 Manavely P. Purushothaman All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 13979 R. K. R. Anantharaman Pattali Makkal Katchi 9646 4333
21 Embalam P. Rajavelu All India N.R. Congress 12933 M. Candassamy Indian National Congress 11465 1468
22 Nettapakkam L. Periyasamy All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 14686 S. Muthukumarasamy Indian National Congress 9219 5467
23 Bahour T. Thiagarajan All India N.R. Congress 12284 R. Radhakrishnan Indian National Congress 10229 2055
Karaikal District
24 Nedungadu M.Chandhrakasu All India N.R. Congress 12474 A. Marimottou Independent 4984 7490
25 Thirunallar P. R. Siva All India N.R. Congress 11702 R. Kamalakannan Indian National Congress 10862 840
26 Karaikal North P. R. N. Thirumurugan Indian National Congress 12155 M.V.Omalingam All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 8795 3360
27 Karaikal South A.M.H. Nazeem Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 8377 V.K. Ganapathy Independent 6801 1576
28 Neravy T R Pattinam V.M.C. Sivakumar Independent 8860 Anandan Geetha Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 8502 358
Mahe District
29 Mahe E. Valsaraj Indian National Congress 13297 T.K.Gangadharan Communist Party of India (Marxist) 7193 6104
Yanam District
30 Yanam Malladi Krishna Rao Indian National Congress 23985 Manchala Satya Sai Kumar All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 4867 19118

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Election Commission of India. Schedule for holding General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Puducherry
  2. ^ a b c d "Campaigning ends in Puducherry". The Hindu. PTI. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  3. ^ "AINRC-AIADMK front secures majority in Puducherry". The Hindu. India Today. PTI. 13 May 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Jayalalithaa accuses Puducherry CM of betrayal". The Hindu. Economic Times. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Tamil Nadu polls 2016: No alliance with AINRC, says AIADMK in Puducherry". DNA. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2022.