The elections to elect the members of the 15th Puducherry Assembly was held on 6 April 2021. The elections were held for all the 30 constituencies of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly.
The National Democratic Alliance won a simple majority in the elections, and N. Rangaswamy of the All India N. R. Congress was sworn in as the chief minister for the fourth time.
Background
Elections to a legislative assembly in India are usually held once in five years, and the members of the legislative assembly are directly elected to serve five year terms from single-member constituencies. The previous assembly elections were held in May 2021 to elect the 30 members of the 14th Puducherry Assembly.
In the previous election, the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance formed the government after winning 17 of the 30 seats, and V. Narayanasamy sworn in as the chief minister. All India N.R. Congress (AINRC), which had formed the government under N. Rangaswamy after the 2011 elections, won eight seats, and Rangaswamy became the leader of the opposition in the assembly.
In February 2021, a trust vote was called by the lieutenant governor after five members of the Congress including two ministers, and one member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) resigned from the assembly. With the strength of the house reduced to 27, which included the three nominated members, the government had the support of only 11 members. After the government lost the trust vote, Narayanasamy resigned as chief minister on 22 February. Later, Narayanasamy stated that the government lost because the speaker accepted the votes from nominated members on equal standing to the elected ones, and the lieutenant governor, who was a former member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had appointed members of the same party for all the nominated seats.
Parties and alliances
United Progressive Alliance
The Congress led United Progressive Alliance contested the elections in alliance with the DMK. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) contested the Muthialpet seat and supported the alliance in all other seats.
AINRC-led Alliance
The AINRC-led Alliance led by the AINRC, consisted of BJP and AIADMK.
The Pattali Makkal Katchi, which initially announced candidates to nine seats, later withdrew from competition, and supported the alliance without contesting in any seat.
Result
Results by constituency
Keys:
AINRC (10)
BJP (6)
DMK (6)
INC (2)
IND (6)
As the AINRC+ achieved a majority in the elections, the AINRC–BJP combine formed the next government. The lieutenant governor appointed three members to the assembly, all of whom belonged to the BJP, raising its count to nine in the assembly. Furthermore, the six independent members pledged support to the government, increasing its strength to 25 in the 33-member assembly. Rangaswamy was sworn in as the chief minister of Puducherry for the fourth time on 7 May 2021. On 8 June, the alliance announced that the BJP would get two ministers and the post of the assembly speaker, while AINRC got three ministers.