Puducherry Assembly polls: CM Rangasamy takes on former CM Vaithilingam, Thattanchavady in tight race

The union territory will hold assembly polls on April 9. Counting of votes will take place on May 4, with the four polling states – Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal – also going to the polls around the same time.Rangasamy is a former Congress leader who founded his own political party, the All India NR Congress (AINRC), in February 2011. He served twice as chief minister and Congress leader and twice as founder-chairman of AINRC.

Rangasamy vs Vathilingam

Vatilingam, a two-time former chief minister and sitting member of the union territory’s only Lok Sabha seat, also known as Puducherry, won the 2019 general election and retained the seat five years later.Rangasamy is also contesting from the second constituency Mangalam.AINRC is contesting the polls in alliance with the BJP and will field candidates in 16 of the 30 directly elected seats (the remaining 3 MLAs are nominated by the central government).ALSO READ | Puducherry polls: BJP nominates candidate for Karaikal South district – See full listThe BJP will contest the remaining 14 constituencies, in which the BJP and Rakhi Jananayaka Kachi are allotted two seats each.Congress and DMK will contest under a similar seat-sharing arrangement, with Congress fielding 16 candidates and DMK fielding 14 candidates.ALSO READ | Puducherry Assembly polls: Seat deadlock ends; Congress gets 16, DMK 14In the 2021 polls, the AINRC-BJP coalition won 16 seats (exact majority), displacing the Congress which won only two seats, while its ally DMK won six seats. In 2011, Congress removed AINRC.