Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) of Congress and DMK is set to fell short in its bid to form the government in Puducherry, as counting for the April 9 assembly elections was held on Monday. Despite a record voter turnout of 89.87% across the Union territory’s 30 constituencies, SPA candidates are currently leading only on three seats, while the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is set to become Puducherry’s first incumbent government to be re-elected since the Congress in 2006. This marks a setback for the SPA, which had hoped to return to power but was outperformed by the NDA led by chief Minister N Rangasamy of the All India NR Congress, a former Congress leader. Under their arrangement, the grand old party contested 16 seats, with the Dravidian party fielded candidates in 13 constituencies.
| `Constituency | SPA candidate | Status |
| Mannadipet | TPR Selvame (Congress) | Lost |
| Thirubuvanai | P Angalane (DMK) | Trailing |
| Oussudu | P Karthikeyan (Congress) | Won |
| Mangalam | SS Rangan (DMK)/K Ragubady (Congress) – friendly fight | Counting in progress |
| Villianur | R Siva (DMK) | Lost |
| Ozhukarai | M Sivasankar (Congress) | Counting in progress |
| Kadirkamam | APR Vadivel (DMK) | Lost |
| Indira Nagar | N Rajakumar (Congress) | Counting in progress |
| Thattanchavady | Ve Vaithilingam (Congress) | Lost |
| Kamaraj Nagar | PK Devadoss (Congress) | Trailing |
| Lawspet | M Vaithianathan (Congress) | Lost |
| Kalapet | A Senthil Ramesh (DMK) | Trailing |
| Muthialpet | Eeram G Rajendran (Congress) | Lost |
| Raj Bhavan | Vignesh Kannan (DMK) | Trailing |
| Oupalam | Annibal Kennedy (DMK) | Lost |
| Orleampeth | S Gopal (DMK) | Trailing |
| Nellithope | V Cartigueyane (DMK) | Won |
| Mudaliarpet | L Sambath (DMK) | Trailing |
| Ariankuppam | Viazayalakshmy Djeamourthy (Congress) | Lost |
| Manavely | RK Anantharaman (Congress) | Trailing |
| Embalam | M Candassamy (Congress) | Lost |
| Nettapakkam | G Anbarasan (Congress) | Lost |
| Bahour | R Senthil Kumar (DMK) | Leading |
| Nedungadu | Dinesh Kumar (Congress) | Lost |
| Thirunallar | R Kamalkannan (Congress) | Counting in progress |
| Karaikal North | AM Ranjith (Congress) | Lost |
| Karaikal South | AVS Sakthivel Prabu (Congress) | Counting in progress |
| Neravy TR Pattinam | M Nagathiyagarajan (DMK) | Lost |
| Mahe | Ramesh Parambath (Congress) | Lost |
| Yanam | Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok (Congress) | Lost |
