The Congress party on Tuesday released a list of 14 candidates for the upcoming assembly polls in Puducherry and former Chief Minister V Narayanasamy’s name is missing. The Congress-led government in the Union Territory fell before completing its five-year term under Narayanasamy after a few of their party MLAs jumped ship to BJP.
Narayanasamy had resigned on February 22 ahead of a floor test in the 33-member house (including three nominated members) following the resignations of five Congress and one Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) legislators. President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the resignation of Narayanasamy and his council of ministers on February 23. “Former Chief Minister V Narayanasamy will not contest the 2021 assembly elections in Puducherry. He will look after the campaign and election management,” said Dinesh Gundu Rao, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Puducherry.
Among the key candidates in the upcoming elections, P Selvanadane will contest from Kardirgamam assembly seat, M Kannan from Indira Nagar, Karthikeyan from Oussudu and Ramesh Preambath from Mahe. Polling for 30 assembly seats in Puducherry will be held on April 6. In the rival camp, Bharatiya Janata Party and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have finally arrived at a consensus to contest nine and five seats respectively under the National Democratic Alliance led by the All India NR Congress. The two parties have listed their candidates on March 16.
