Puducherry Assembly elections 2026: Voting on April 9, results on May 4

For the first time, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu will go to the polls on different dates, posing logistical challenges for the election machinery.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, centre, with Election Commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi during a press conference to announce the Assembly election schedule for West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, Sunday, March 15, 2026. Photo | PTI

PUDUCHERRY: All 30 constituencies in Puducherry will go for polling on April 9, along with Assam and Kerala.

For the first time, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu will go to the polls on different dates. This poses logistical challenges for the election machinery in the Union Territory, whose regions are geographically enclaved within Tamil Nadu.

The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for all four poll-bound states. Filing of nominations will commence after the notification is issued on March 16. The last date for filing nominations is March 23. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on March 24, while the last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 26.

Counting of votes will be taken up on May 4 along with the rest of the country, and the entire election process will be completed by May 6.

The tenure of the present Puducherry Legislative Assembly is set to end on June 15.

Puducherry has a total electorate of 9.44 lakh voters, including 4.43 lakh men, 5 lakh women and 139 third-gender voters. Among them are 54 centenarian voters and 6,034 voters aged above 85. The electorate also includes 12,204 persons with disabilities (PwD), 23,033 first-time voters and about 1.87 lakh young voters in the age group of 20–29 years. There are also 328 service voters.

Polling will be conducted at 1,099 polling stations (PS) across the Union Territory, of which 610 are in urban areas and 489 in rural areas, with an average of 859 voters per polling station. The arrangements include 30 model polling stations, 60 women-managed polling stations and four polling stations managed by persons with disabilities. All polling stations will be webcast.

As part of the unique polling locations, the historic V.O. Chidambaram Pillai School in Puducherry, built in 1885 and formerly known as École Primaire de Garçons during the French administration, has been designated as a model polling station. The venue will host two polling stations with 722 and 651 electors respectively.