Puducherry assembly elections: A Johnkumar and V Vaithilingam among dynasty candidates in fray | India News
New Delhi: The upcoming Puducherry Assembly elections will see several candidates with strong political family backgrounds contesting in various constituencies.
Puducherry Assembly Election 2026
A total of 291 candidates are contesting in the April 9 election. Polling was held to elect 30 members of the 33-seat Puducherry Legislative Assembly, with the remaining three members nominated by the central government.
Puducherry Assembly Election 2021
Prominent candidates for dynasty
Janakumar: BJP leader A Janakumar, a minister in the outgoing N Rangasamy-led government and sitting MLA from Kamaraj Nagar, is contesting from Nelithope. He had earlier won the same seat as a Congress candidate in the 2016 elections. The constituency remains under family influence, with his son Richards Janakumar winning on a BJP ticket in 2021.
Dynasty candidates
V Vaithilingam: A high-profile contest is set to take place in Thatanchabadi, with former chief minister V Vaithilingam contesting against outgoing chief minister N Rangasamy. Baithilingam, son of Puducherry’s second Chief Minister V Venkatasubba Reddyar, is currently the President of the Puducherry Congress and the sitting Lok Sabha MP from the Union Territory’s only Lok Sabha seat, also called Puducherry. The results of this contest are expected to have an impact on the post of Chief Minister.
Vignesh Kanan: At the Raj Bhavan Centre, DMK candidate Bighesh Kannan is making his electoral debut. Son of former Puducherry minister P Kannan, he will be pitted against Puducherry BJP chief VP Ramalingam in what is shaping up to be a closely watched contest.
alliances
The election will be a direct clash between the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition Congress-DMK alliance. Puducherry’s NDA is led by Chief Minister N Rangasamy’s All India NR Congress, which will contest 16 seats. The BJP was given the remaining 14 constituencies, of which it gave two each to the AIADMK and businessman Jose Charles Martin’s newly formed Lachia Jannayaga Katchi (LJK).
Criminal case
The Congress and the DMK will also contest 16 and 14 seats respectively under a similar system.
