Chennai: The filing of nomination papers for the Puducherry Legislative Assembly elections ended on Monday amid high political drama, with the INDIA bloc finalising seat-sharing arrangements with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) after last-minute talks.
The DMK will contest in 14 constituencies, while the Congress will take up 16 seats. The DMK has also said it will share some of its seats with the Communist Party of India and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). The elections are scheduled for 9 April.
DMK president M.K. Stalin intervened personally as the seat-sharing negotiations dragged on without resolution until the last day of nominations. In a similar intervention as in Tamil Nadu, senior Congress leader P.Chidambaram met Stalin in Chennai on Sunday, attempting to break the continuing deadlock.
Meanwhile, the Congress party in Puducherry faced severe internal turmoil on the final day of nomination filing for the Assembly elections, as supporters of former chief minister V. Narayanasamy staged a protest against the denial of his ticket.
Party workers marched to lay siege to Congress state president A.V. Subramanian (Vaithilingam) shouting slogans and demanding his immediate resignation. They blocked traffic, clashed briefly with police, and accused the leadership of a conspiracy to Narayanasamy.
Despite his local influence in the Nellithope constituency, Vaithilingam personally advised Narayanasamy not to contest and refused to issue the required ‘A’ and ‘B’ forms, triggering the sit-in right at the nomination deadline.
The DMK’s insistence on fielding its own candidates in Nellithope is said to be the primary reason for the conflict.
However, T.S.Singh Deo, All India Congress Committee (AICC) Screening Committee Chairperson for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, expressed confidence in the alliance.
“I think we have a very good Chief Minister (in Tamil Nadu), and a lot of good work has been done. Tamil Nadu has also progressed. Being the second state in the country in terms of development is not a small achievement. Even when the central government is putting all sorts of blockages in between, a lot of good work has been done,” he told the media.
Political analyst Arun Kumar said that the Congress vote share is declining, while the DMK is trying to expand its horizon in Puducherry.
“The Congress has a stronghold in Puducherry traditionally. Unlike Tamil Nadu, the total population of each constituency is insignificant. The individual influence of any candidate is high in the Union Territory, and a small portion of the population in small constituencies makes winning easy,” he told ThePrint.
The party, he said, believes that it can have an influence over the population easily, which is below 10 lakh.
“The presence of Nadars and Vanniyars are also high in Puducherry, and DMK propaganda secretary Jagathrakshagan wants to hold the chief minister post there. In certain meetings, the alliance talks were also without the Congress because they (the DMK) wants to emerge as a ruling party given the declining Congress vote share. After 2021, the Congress’ influence is declining and the DMK is using that to expand their presence,” he added.
Narayanasamy, meanwhile, belongs to the Nadar community.
Although nomination filing officially began 16 March, the political parties did not make any early announcements. Despite the ongoing uncertainty, about 135 nominations were submitted across Puducherry.
Earlier, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had earlier announced 16 seats for the NR Congress, 10 for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 2 for the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and 2 for the Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi (LJAK).
(Edited by Tony Rai)