In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the three-year-old ruling All India NR Congress fared well in some central regions and rural pockets but failed to garner substantial votes from the enclaves such as Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.
When broken down Assembly segment-wise, the election results throw up quite a few surprises.
In the 2011 Assembly elections, the AINRC got 15 of the 30 seats. Looking at the Lok Sabha election results Assembly segment-wise, the party has increased its tally of seats from the present 15 to 19.
While the AINRC has surged ahead in 19 constituencies, the main Opposition Congress was ahead of AINRC only in five seats-Villianur, Nellithope, Thirunallar (Karaikal), Mahe and Yanam, though the party has seven MLAs in the Assembly at present.
In Kamaraj Nagar constituency, which is held by V. Vithilingam, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition, the AINRC candidate R. Radhakrishnan secured 1,809 more votes than his rival V. Narayanasamy of the Congress. In the Raj Bhavan constituency, held by sitting Congress MLA K. Laxminarayan, the AINRC garnered 826 more votes than the Congress veteran.
Even as it swept across Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK secured a lead only in five Assembly seats in Puducherry while it fared better than ruling party in Nedugandu constituency — held by present Minister M. Chandrakasu — where the AINRC was able to get only 395 votes. AIADMK secured the maximum of 10,877 votes in that constituency. In Neravy-T.R. Patinam held by AINRC MLA V.M.C. Sivakkumar, AIADMK went ahead of the ruling party candidate by securing 2,973 votes more. Though the PMK has always claimed that it has strong vote base in Puducherry — a premise founded on a hopeful consolidation of the substantial Vanniyar community in its favour — its candidate and State organiser R.K.R. Anantharaman got only 24,143 votes and forfeited deposit.
In 23 constituencies, the party managed to get less than 1,000 votes. Professor M. Ramadass, who won on the PMK ticket in 2004, contested as independent and was able to get only 2,494.
Interestingly, the Communist Party of India candidate and its State unit secretary R. Viswanathan secured three digit votes in 29 constituencies. Not surprisingly, his best performance was in Mahe, wedged between two traditional Left bastions of Vadakara and Kannur in Kerala, where the party got the most votes (4,671).
