Seat pact sealed in Puducherry: Congress gets 16 and DMK 14

he Union Territory of Puducherry is all set to hold the 2026 Assembly Election on April 9

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress has reached a seat-sharing pact for the 2026 Puducherry Assembly elections.

In total 30 constituencies in Puducherry will undergo polls, with Congress to contest 16 and the DMK to contest on 14 seats.

"We will share seats among the alliance parties in the 14 seats allotted to DMK," the party's Puducherry election in-charge Jagadrakshagan said.

Congress and DMK are also alliance partners in Tamil Nadu, where the Chief Minister MK Stalin-led party allotted the Congress 28 of 234 seats for the 2026 Assembly elections.

In the 2021 Puducherry Assembly Elections, AINRC emerged as the largest party with 10 seats, followed by DMK with six seats, while BJP and Congress won six seats each. The voter turnout was recorded at 84.8 per cent.

Given its stronger strike rate in 2021, the DMK entered the current negotiations with greater leverage and was widely expected to resist conceding significant ground to an ally that underperformed in the last polls. At the same time, the Congress’s push for a larger share signalled its effort to retain primacy within the alliance in Puducherry, where it has traditionally been a dominant force.

While in the 2016 elections, Congress had secured a majority with 15 seats, AINRC won eight seats, AIADMK bagged four seats, and DMK got two seats, with voter turnout at 83.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, in the NDA camp, the BJP is contesting 10 seats, the All India NR Congress (AINRC) is contesting on 16 constituencies, AIADMK and Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi (LJK) are contesting on two seats each.

The BJP's first list of candidates was released on March 21. According to the list, A Namassivayam will contest from Mannadipet, while E Theeppainthan will contest from Oussoudu (SC). PML Kalyanasundaram will contest from Kalapet, and A Johnkumar from Mudaliarpet.

Embalam R Selvam will contest from Manavely, GNS Rajasekaran from Thirunallar and A Dineshan from Mahe.

The BJP released a second list to announce M Arulmurugan as its candidate from the Karaikal South constituency.

The Union Territory of Puducherry is all set to hold the 2026 Assembly Election on April 9 in a single phase, with counting of votes scheduled to take place on May 4.