Assembly bypolls: Congress retains Puducherry’s Kamaraj Nagar seat

Congress’ A. John Kumar won the bypolls to Kamaraj Nagar with 14,782 votes, defeating his nearest rival and AINRC party nominee S. Bhuvaneswarane, who managed 7,611 votes.

Congress candidate John Kumar in jubilant mood after his victory in the Kamaraj Nagar bypoll.

The ruling Congress in Puducherry has retained the Kamaraj Nagar Assembly seat by winning the bypoll held on October 21.

While John Kumar, a confidante of Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, polled 14,782 votes out of the total 24,310 polled in the by-election held on October 21, the AINRC nominee secured 7,612 votes.

Counting of votes was held at the Motilal Nehru Government Polytechynic College in neighbouring Lawspet amid tight security.

Nine contestants were in the fray while the main contest was between the ruling Congress and the opposition AINRC.

With the win, the Congress’ strength in the territorial Assembly has been restored to 15 in which the Congress enjoys the support of the DMK, its alliance partner, from outside.

The territorial assembly has 30 elected legislators and three nominated members.

The by-poll was necessitated after the incumbent legislator V. Vaithilingam (Congress) quit following his election to the Lok Sabha from the lone seat here in April this year.