Making an impressive electoral debut, the All India NR Congress (AINRC) in alliance with ADMK today secured a two-third majority in the 30-member Puducherry Assembly, ending the DMK-supported Congress rule.
Ousting Congress, AINRC-AIADMK combine on Friay secured a majority winning 17 of the 26 seats for which results were declared and was leading in two in the elections to the 30-member Puducherry Assembly.
Ruling Congress today won two seats and was ahead in as many but opposition AIADMK-AINRC combine established leads in seven constituencies in the polls to the 30-member assembly in the Union Territory.
Prohibitory orders have been clamped for two days, starting on Tuesday, in Puducherry and Mahe regions in view of April 27 bandh called by opposition parties demanding recall of Lt Governor Iqbal Singh.
Volunteers and leaders of various outfits on Wednesday courted arrest in Puducherry when they staged a dharna near Raj Nivas pressing for recall of Lt Governor Iqbal Singh for his alleged links with suspected money launderer Hasan Ali Khan.
The final polling percentage in the Assembly elections to Union Territory of Puducherry was on Thursday pegged at 85.12.
A former chief minister having tea at a roadside kiosk is a rare sight in any part of the country. But in former French colony Puducherry, one can run into N Rangaswamy, chief minister for two terms, doing just that, while talking to people and going through a newspaper.
KV Lakshmana reports.
AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will campaign Puducherry on Thursday, a Puducherry state youth congress committee functionary said on Wednesday.
The Puducherry government has suspended six of its employees for allegedly participating in poll-related activities of political parties in this Union Territory.
Taking a cue from political parties in neighbouring Tamil Nadu in offering freebies, the manifesto of the ruling Congress in Puducherry for the April 13 assembly polls has promised free mobile phones for BPL families.
New Justice party (NJP) will back the Congress DMK combine in the April 13 Puducherry assembly polls, according to president of local unit of the party S Ponnurangam.
Puducherry unit of CPI has announced that it will contest in six constituencies in the April 13 polls to Puducherry assembly.
A DMK nominee was arrested on Wednesday on criminal charges in Puducherry when he was waiting to meet party patriarch M Karunanidhi, who has sought an explanation as to how this person got the clearance to contest polls.
The Puducherry government today ordered the closure of a chemicals company after a gas leak from its factory on the outskirts of the city made about 300 people ill.
Cracks widened in the ruling Congress in Puducherry on Thursday as estranged party leader N Rangasamy and loyalist P Angalane resigned from their Assembly membership.