The Congress has a silver lining in Puducherry after the series of losses in the just concluded elections to Assemblies in other four States. The party won 15 seats on its own in the 30-member Assembly of the union territory, which went to the polls on Monday.
Since the DMK, its alliance partner, won two seats, the Congress is all set to form a Government in Puducherry. The ruling All India NR Congress (AINRC) led by Chief Minister N Rangasamy could win only eight seats. The AIADMK had to content with four seats, while one seat was bagged by an independent.
The AINRC — an off-shoot of the Congress — was formed by Rangasamy, who left the parent party just before the 2011 Assembly election.
Prominent among the successful Congress candidates are former Chief Minister and leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly V Vaithilingam (Kamaraj Nagar) and Pradesh Congress Committee president A Namassivayam (Villianur). Namassivayam is widely seen as the next Chief Minister.
In Karaikal South constituency, five-time DMK MlA AMH Nazeem lost to AIADMK’s K AU Asana by a slender margin of 20 votes. Congress leader and former Minister E Valsaraj lost to independent V Ramachandran in Mahe.
Former Congress strongman P Kannan, who joined the AIADMK on the eve of the elections, lost to his protege K lakshminarayanan in Raj Bhavan constituency.
The PWA comprising DMDK, MDMK, CPI-M, CPI and RSP contested 28 constituencies but drew a blank so did the BJP, which had fielded candidates in all 30 seats.