Puducherry assembly election: All India NR Congress releases candidate list, N Rangasamy to contest from 2 seats

According to the list, former chief minister N Rangasamy will contest the elections from two assembly constituencies - Thattanchavady and Yanam.

The All India NR Congress party (AINRC), headed by former chief minister N Rangasamy, on Friday released its candidate list for the upcoming assembly elections in the union territory. The AINRC is contesting the polls for the 30-seat assembly in coalition with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The AINRC has fielded candidates on 16 seats, while the BJP and the AIADMK are contesting in nine and five seats respectively. In picture - N Rangasamy (second from right) files his nomination for upcoming elections from Yanam constituency.(PTI)

According to the list, Rangasamy will contest the elections from two assembly constituencies - Thattanchavady and Yanam. Notably, he filed his nomination from Yanam on Thursday, a day before releasing the final candidate list. Yanam is an assembly seat of the Puducherry UT situated within the state of Andhra Pradesh.

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In the Thirubuvanai seat, reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the party has fielded incumbent MLA B Gobika and former local administration minister C Djeacoumar is contesting from the Mangalam seat, for which he filed the nomination earlier on March 16, according to a report from news agency PTI. Also, the Indira Nagar constituency, where Rangasamy won in 2016, has been given to V Arumugam.

Of the remaining constituencies, SV Sugumaran is fielded from Villianur, G Pannirselvam from Ozhukarai, S Ramesh from Kadhirkamam, K Lakshminarayanan from Raj Bhavan, R Datchanamourtty from Ariyankuppam, U LakshmiKandhan from Embalam, P Rajavelu from Nettapakkam, N Danavelou from Bahour, incumbent MLA S ChandiraPriyanga from Nedunkadu, PRN Thirumurugan from Karaikal North and VP Abdul Rahman from Mahe.

The AINRC has fielded candidates on 16 seats, while the BJP and the AIADMK are contesting in nine and five seats respectively. The AINRC has also announced Rangasamy as the chief ministerial candidate if the coalition wins the election. “We will face elections in Puducherry under the leadership of N Rangaswamy,” news agency ANI quoted Puducherry BJP chief Nirmal Kumar Surana as saying on March 9.

Single phase of elections have been scheduled for the 30 constituencies in Puducherry on April 6 and the counting of votes would be held on May 2.