PUDUCHERRY: The Congress has again proved its supremacy in Puducherry for the 10th time, of 11 times it contested elections, by wresting the seat from its former ally PMK.
Union Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs and Congress candidate V Narayanasamy polled 3,00,391 to PMK’s Ramadass’ 2,08,619 votes. DMDK’s K A U Asanna came third with 52,638 votes, while BJP’s M Visweswaran polled only 13,442 votes.
This is the second highest margin of victory in Puducherry since 1980, when P Shanmugham of Congress won with a margin of 98,564 votes over M R Lakshminarayan of Janata.
The main advantage for Narayanasamy has been the fact that he contested from a Congress bastion, coupled with a strong alliance with the DMK, PMC and VCK.
However, his rival candidate’s weak base- Yanam and Mahe, especially Yanam, where Narayanasamy polled 19,489 votes to Ramadass’ 3,920, has come as a huge advantage.
PMC leader P Kannan who has a substantial vote bank in many constituencies along with the DMK has favoured him.
Narayanasamy loss in three Assembly constituencies of Congress- Indira Nagar, Kathirkamam and Thattanchavady, the DMK constituency of Mudaliarpet, primarily due to cross voting and result in the AIADMK constituency of Ouppalam were had not effect on the outcome.
Meanwhile, for Ramadass it was an uphill task with a weak voter base for the PMK, its allies AIADMK, MDMK and the Left. Added to this has been the Mahe and Yanam factor. The Sri Lankan Tamil issue had hardly any effect. Compared to the previous polls, where PMK fought with non-Congress ally, this has been the best, all credits to Ramadass’ achievements.
But, as there was no party organisational set up to create vote bank. PMK’s policy of being pro-vanniyar has not cut ice in Puducherry.