2026 Puducherry Legislative Assembly elections were held on 9 April 2026 to elect all the 30 members of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 4 May 2026 by the Election Commission of India.

The election recorded a voter turnout of 89.87%, the highest ever for an assembly election in the union territory.

The National Democratic Alliance won a simple majority in the elections with an increased majority and N. Rangaswamy of the All India N. R. Congress was sworn in as the chief minister for the fifth time, with the alliance winning 18 of the 30 elected seats in the union territory.

The opposition Secular Progressive Alliance won only 6 seats with incumbent Leader of Opposition and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader R. Siva losing his own seat. The Indian National Congress was routed as it won only one seat, with its state chief and MP V. Vaithilingam losing his Election deposit and finishing fourth.

Background Elections to a Legislative Assembly in India are usually held once in five years, and the members of the legislative assembly are directly elected to serve five year terms from single-member constituencies.

The tenure of Puducherry Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on 15 June 2026. In the previous assembly elections held in April 2021, the All India N.R. Congress-led National Democratic Alliance formed the state government after winning 16 out of 30 seats in the assembly, with N. Rangaswamy sworn in as the Chief Minister.

In the later part of 2025, the Election Commission of India conducted a Special Intensive Revision after 24 years, to revise the electoral rolls.

Schedule The Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the election on 15 March 2026.

EventDate Date for Nomination 16 March 2026 Last date for filing nominations 23 March 2026 Scrutiny of nominations 24 March 2026 Last date for withdrawal of nomination 26 March 2026 Polling 9 April 2026 Counting of votes 4 May 2026 Deadline for the completion of election process 6 May 2026

Parties and alliances

AINRC-led Alliance

The seat sharing for the National Democratic Alliance was finalised on 20 March 2026.

colspan="6" AINRC-led Alliance Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats All India N. R. Congress N. Rangasamy 16 V. P. Ramalingame 10 A. Anbalagan 2 Latchiya Jananayaka Katchi Jose Charles Martin 2 Total 30

Secular Progressive Alliance

As per the seat-sharing agreement finalised on 23 March 2026, the Indian National Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) agreed to contest in 17 and 13 seats respectively. However, the Congress had already fielded candidates in five seats allocated to the DMK, which resulted in friendly contests between the two parties in these five constituencies.

The DMK allocated one seat from its quota to the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). However, the VCK announced its exit from the alliance on 24 March 2026 citing seat-sharing disagreements. However, on 6 April, the VCK announced that apart from the Oulgret constituency allocated to it, it will support the coalition candidates in the other three seats, where it had already fielded candidates.

colspan="6" Secular Progressive Alliance Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats V. Vaithilingam 21 R. Siva 13 Deva Pozhilan 4 Total 30+8

TVK–led Alliance On 22 March 2026, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) announced its candidates for 30 constituencies in Puducherry. Subsequently, Neyam Makkal Kazhagam, led by G. Nehru Kuppusamy, joined the TVK-led Alliance and was allocated two seats.

colspan="7" TVK-led Alliance Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam Vijay 28 Neyam Makkal Kazhagam G. Nehru Kuppusamy 2 Total 30

SNMMK–AIPTMMK Alliance

On 20 March 2026, the S. Ramadoss-led faction of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, formed an alliance with All India Puratchi Thalaivar Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AIPTMMK), led by V. K. Sasikala, for the assembly elections in Puducherry. On 25 March 2026, a seat-sharing agreement was signed between G. Sathiyamoorthy of Sengol Needhi Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam and Sasikala of AIPTMMK for the elections.

colspan="7" SNMMK–AIPTMMK Alliance Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats Sengol Needhi Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam Sathiyamurthy 10 All India Puratchi Thalaivar Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam V. K. Sasikala 4 Total 14

Others On 7 March 2026, Naam Tamilar Katchi was the first party to announce its candidates for the elections, and announced its intention to contest in 28 of the 30 constituencies in the union territory. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India, which are part of the Secular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu, withdrew from the alliance and independently fielded candidates in four and two constituencies respectively.

Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats Seeman 28 S. Ramachandran 4 A. M. Saleem 2

Candidates District # ConstituencyAINRC+SPATVK+ Party Candidate Party Candidate Party Candidate Puducherry 1 Mannadipet A. Namassivayam T. P. R. Selvame K. Bharathithasan 2 Thirubuvanai (SC) B. KobigaP. AngalaneA. K. Sai J. Saravanan Kumar 3 Ossudu (SC) E. TheeppainthanP. Karthikeyan S. Saraganabava 4 Mangalam N. RangasamyS. S. RanganM. K. Sathia Manikkavasagane 5 Villianur Ravikumar R. Siva R. Ramesh 6 Ozhukarai K. NarayanasamySelva. Pushpalatha Sasibalan 7 Kadirgamam K. S. P. RameshP. Vadivelu Jayanthi Rajavelu 8 Indira Nagar A. K. D. ArumugamN. Rajakumar S. Mourougane 9 Thattanchavady N. RangasamyV. Vaithilingam E. Vinayagam 10 Kamaraj NagarLJK Jose Charles MartinP. K. Devadoss Suman 11 Lawspet V. P. SivakolundhuM. Vaithianathan V. Saminathan12Kalapet P. M. L. KalyanasundaramA. Senthil Ramesh D. Sasikumar 13 Muthialpet Vaiyapuri ManikandanM. Rajendran J. Prakash Kumar 14 Raj Bhavan V. P. RamalingameVignesh Kannan V. J. Chandran 15 Oupalam A. Anbalagan Annibal Kennedy S. Siva 16 Orleampeth A. GandhiS. Gopal G. Nehru Kuppusamy 17 NellithopeLJK A. JayakumarV. Karthikeyan S. Vigneshwaran 18 Mudaliarpet A. Johnkumar L. Sambath N. Manibalan 19 Ariankuppam C. AiyappanD. Vijayalakshmy Kumaravelu 20 Manavely Embalam R. SelvamR. K. R. Anantharaman B. Ramu 21 Embalam (SC) MohamdaossM. Kandaswamy V. Tamilselvan 22 Nettapakkam (SC) RajaveluP. Sadasivam L. Periasamy 23 Bahour T. ThiagarajanR. Senthilkumar N. Dhanavelou Karaikal 24 Nedungadu (SC) Chandira PriyangaDinesh Kumar U. Kamaraj 25 Thirunallar G. N. S. RajasekaranR. Kamalakannan A. Raja Mohamed 26 Karaikal North P. R. N. ThirumuruganA. M. Ranjith A. Vengadesh 27 Karaikal South M. Arulmurugan A. M. H. Nazeem K. A. U. Assana 28 Neravy T. R. Pattinam T. K. S. M. MeenatchisundaramM. Nagathiyagarajan Pranadarti Gareswaran Mahe 29 Mahe A. DineshanRamesh Parambath Prijesh M. Yanam 30 Yanam Malladi Krishna RaoGollapalli Srinivas Ashok Thota Raju

Surveys and polls

Exit polls + Seat projections Polling agency Date published Lead AINRC+ SPA TVK+ OthersAxis My India29 April 20266-82-41-3Kamakhya Analytics4-71-70-1People's Pulse10-121-31-2Praja Poll6-101-60JVC11-131-20-1

Voting According to the Election Commission of India, 9,50,311 voters were eligible to vote in the assembly elections in Puducherry. This includes 4,46,361 male, 5,03,810 female, and 140 third gender voters. The polling was held on 9 April 2026 and the election recorded a voter turnout of 89.87%, the highest ever for an assembly election in the union territory.

Results

By alliance or party

Alliance/ Partyhttps://results.eci.gov.in/ResultAcGenMay2026/partywiseresult-U07.htm Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Contested Won +/- rowspan="5" AINRC+ AINRC 23.12 2.73 16 12 2 BJP 12.19 1.47 10 4 2 LJK 2.30 2 1 ADMK 1.09 3.05 2 1 1 Total 38.70 30 18 2 rowspan="4" SPA DMK 13.74 4.77 13 5 1 INC 17.54 1.83 22 1 1 VCK 0.14 0.53 2 0 Total 31.42 30 6 2TVK+ TVK 16.72 28 2 NMK 1.79 2 1 Total 18.51 30 3 Others 0.32 30 0 IND 8.68 4 117 3 3 NOTA 0.77 0.52 Total 100% — 294 30 —

By district + DistrictSeatsNDAINDIATVK+INDPuducherry 2314531Karaikal 53101Mahe 10001Yanam 11000 Total 3018633

By constituency District Constituency Winner Runner Up Margin % # Name Candidate Party Votes % Candidate Party Votes % Puducherry 1 MannadipetA. Namassivayam 15,91853.96T. P. R. Selvame9,80833.256,11020.71 2 Thirubuvanai (SC)Sai Saravanan Kumar 9,74032.15B. Kobiga9,03929.837012.32 3 Ossudu (SC)P. Karthikeyan15,40049.20E. Theeppainthan11,38236.364,01812.84 4 MangalamN. Rangaswamy17,91750.61S. S. Rangan10,86730.697,05019.92 5 VillianurB. Ravicoumar16,97043.13R. Siva15,00038.121,9705.01 6 OzhukaraiK. Narayanasamy12,63535.20Sasibalan8,40123.414,23411.79 7 KadirkamamAzhagananthamIND14,63351.35K. S. P. Ramesh7,62926.777,00424.58 8 Indira NagarA. K. D. Arumugam12,64042.13S. S. Rangan12,05640.195841.949ThattanchavadyN. Rangaswamy 10,02442.51E. VinayagamNMK5,58323.684,44118.83 10 Kamaraj NagarJose Charles MartinLJK16,59253.14P. K. Devadoss6,38720.4510,20532.69 11 LawspetV. P. Sivakolundhu 10,57839.52M. Vaithianathan9,16134.231,4175.29 12 KalapetRamesh12,06938.26P. M. L. Kalyanasundaram11,62236.844471.42 13 MuthialpetVaiyapuri Manikandan 8,38235.58M. Rajendran7,43031.549524.04 14 Raj Bhavan Vignesh Kannan7,30439.03V. P. Ramalingame7,01737.492871.54 15 OupalamA. Anbalagan 9,09939.51S. Siva8,07335.051,0264.46 16 OrleampethG. Nehru Kuppusamy9,96050.83S. Gopal8,75944.701,2016.13 17 Nellithope V. Cartigueyane8,22633.21Omsakthisekar IND7,37629.788503.43 18 MudaliarpetA. Johnkumar12,94541.49L. Sambath10,57433.892,3717.60 19 AriankuppamAiyappan 14,21041.18D. Vijayalakshmy13,60739.436031.75 20 ManavelyB. Ramu13,82242.68Embalam R. Selvam10,72933.133,0939.55 21 Embalam (SC)E. Mohandoss 16,01750.78M. Kandaswamy11,95637.914,06112.87 22 Nettapakkam (SC)Rajavelu 13,66547.58G. Anbarasan6,97624.296,68923.29 23 BahourR. Senthilkumar10,52038.32T. Thiagarajan8,12329.592,3978.73 Karaikal 24 Nedungadu (SC)V. Vigneswaran IND14,36850.54Chandira Priyanga 9,86934.714,49915.63 25 ThirunallarG. N. S. Rajasekaran16,82960.18R. Kamalakannan7,30326.119,52634.07 26 Karaikal NorthP. R. N. Thirumurugan12,73143.59A. M. Ranjith10,07834.502,6539.09 27 Karaikal SouthA. M. H. Nazeem12,45349.15A. V. S. Sakthivel Prabu6,68126.185,86222.97 28 Neravy T. R. PattinamMeenatchisundaram10,81840.75M. Nagathiyagarajan8,80033.152,0187.60 Mahé 29 MaheT. Ashok KumarIND8,37535.19Ramesh Parambath7,26030.501,1154.69 Yanam 30 YanamMalladi Krishna Rao 19,86355.44Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok15,29542.694,56812.75

By-elections Date S.No Constituency MLA before electionParty before election Reason Elected MLAParty after election 6 October 2026 9 Thattanchavady N. Rangaswamy All India N. R. Congress

Notes

References