PUDUCHERRY: The ruling All India NR Congress (AINRC) government secured a majority in the Puducherry Assembly through its victory in the Indira Nagar by-poll, the results of which were declared on Thursday.
Party nominee A Tamilselvan defeated his nearest rival V Arumugham of the Congress by a margin of 8046 votes.
The AIADMK, which had contested the April 13 Assembly polls in alliance with AINRC but subsequently parted ways, came in third. This is a crucial victory for the AINRC government as it now has 16 seats in the 30- member Assembly.
Tamilselvan secured 15,053 votes while Arumugham got 7,007 votes. AIADMK’s Suttukeni Baskaran secured only 1578 votes losing his deposit. The AIADMK candidate required 4038 votes to retain deposit.The by-poll was necessitated after chief minister N Rangasamy resigned the Indira Nagar seat, one of the two seats he won in the May assembly elections.However, the margin of victory for AINRC as compared to Assembly elections has come down by half.