The 34-day anxious wait of the contenders for results of the the lone Lok Sabha seat and Thattanchavady bypoll will end on Thursday.
Counting will begin at 8 a.m. at Women’s Polytechnic College, Lawspet; Motilal Nehru Government Polytechnic College, Lawspet; Postgraduate Centre Arignar Anna Government Arts College, Karaikal; Jawaharlal Nehru Government Higher Secondary School, Mahe; and Conference Hall, Mini Civil Station, Yanam.
Unlike the previous elections, the results are likely to delayed this time because of counting of VVPAT slips of five randomly selected polling stations one after another.
Polling for the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats was held in the Union Territory on April 18, which saw a voter turnout of 81.19 %.
The Union Territory has 9,73,161 electors, including 29,320 voters in Thattanchavady Assembly constituency for which byelection was held.
Eighteen candidates were in the fray for the Lok Sabha seat, including V. Vaithilingam of the Congress, K. Narayanasamy of the All India N.R. Congress and M.A.S. Subramanian of Makkal Needhi Maiam.
In Thattanchavady, there were eight candidates in the fray. P. Nedounzejiane of the AINRC and K. Venkatesan of the DMK, an ally of the Congress, are the frontrunners for the byelection
Stakes high
Apart from winning the seat, both the Congress and the AINRC will be keenly watching the outcome of Lok Sabha elections at the national level as the results would have a bearing on U.T. politics.
A win for the United Progressive Alliance or a third front coming together at the Centre would bring an end to the present stand-off between V. Naraynasamy-led Cabinet and the Lt. Governor.
For the Congress, winning the Lok Sabha seat in Puducherry will give it a psychological advantage over the Opposition as the ruling party had been under criticism for non-performance.
Similarly, wresting the Thattanchavady seat from AINRC will help the Congress increase its tally in the Legislative Assembly and make it difficult for the Opposition to force a change of guard — something that was the main pitch of AINRC chief N. Rangasamy during the campaign trail.
Mr. Rangasamy, during the campaign, had predicted his return to power, should the National Democratic Alliance retain power at the Centre after the polls.
However, if the party fails to retain the Lok Sabha and Thattanchavady seats, its efforts to cobble up a majority mid-way in the tenure of the Congress-led government would prove to be an even more difficult task.
Whichever way the voters decide, the outcome of the election will have far-reaching impact on both the political formations.
