Curtains down on Puducherry campaign

PUDUCHERRY: The curtains came down on a high-octane campaign for the 2026 Puducherry assembly elections at 5pm on Tuesday. The race is between Congress splinter group All-India NR Congress (AINRC) of chief minister N Rangasamy, which leads the NDA, and Congress, which leads the INDIA bloc. Actor-turned-politician Vijay’s TVK and Seeman’s NTK may turn out to be spoilers for the two fronts. There are 30 constituencies in the Union territory. AINRC is contesting 16 seats, its ally BJP 10 and AIADMK and LJK two seats each. On the opposition side, Congress is contesting 16 seats and DMK 14. DMK has allotted one seat from its quota to VCK.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP national president Nitin Nabi, Union health and family welfare minister J P Nadda made whirlwind tours in the past few days to campaign for the NDA. For the INDIA bloc, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi were star campaigners.Both fronts face problems within. Congress rebels are contesting against DMK in five constituencies. AINRC and BJP almost parted ways over giving seats to LJK led by lottery king Santiago Martin’s son Charles. Rangaswamy was against it and only gave in after much persuasion from BJP. “For the last two decades, Puducherry has seen a departure from strict party ideologies. Instead, the focus has shifted toward individual leaders who hold significant sway over specific constituencies,” said political analyst D Santhosh. “In this landscape, Rangasamy has emerged as the central figure. In the absence of a strong, unifying opposition leader, the electoral narrative has consistently circled back to his personal popularity and leadership style,” said Santhosh. On May 4,we’ll know if Rangasamy has prevailed or whether BJP has made further inroads in Puducherry, or if the opposition has pulled together.