PUDUCHERRY: With the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing the poll schedule, political parties in Puducherry are finding themselves racing against time to finalise seat sharing, constituencies and candidates as the nomination process begins on Monday.
The Congress and the DMK — partners in the INDIA bloc — are yet to decide on key aspects of their electoral arrangement, including the number of seats each party will contest, the constituencies to be allotted, and most importantly, which party will lead the alliance in the union territory.
Although representatives of the two parties held their first round of discussions recently, the meeting failed to reach a consensus on seat sharing and the leader of the alliance. Leaders eventually decided to leave the matter to their respective party high commands, with the only firm decision mandating that both parties would contest the polls as alliance partners.
However, with barely a day left before nominations open, time is fast running out. Apart from seat-sharing, the identification of constituencies remains another major hurdle, which the parties must overcome before finalising candidates for the seats allotted under the alliance arrangement.
The NDA appears to be relatively better placed. The BJP and its principal regional ally, the All India NR Congress, have already reached an understanding on seat-sharing. However, the alliance still needs to identify constituencies for its partners and finalise candidates. Other NDA partners in the union territory include the AIADMK and the Lok Janshakti Party, who would also have to be given seats.
Going by past experiences, political parties in Puducherry have often struggled to complete the exercise in time, leaving crucial decisions on candidates and nominations until the last moment.
According to sources, most parties have already asked their prospective candidates to keep their documents ready so that nominations can be filed quickly once seats are formally allotted. Yet, disappointments in not being allotted seats will see switching of parties for assured seats.
Political observers say the situation appears particularly precarious for the INDIA bloc. With both the Congress and DMK sticking to their respective conditions, a failure to reach an immediate consensus could even lead to the two parties contesting separately — a development that could potentially give the NDA an advantage in the upcoming election.