Puducherry polls: AV Subramanian quits Congress, party names candidates

Former Congress leader AV Subramanian quit the party in Puducherry, citing 'private reasons', just after the party announced its 16 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections. Congress will contest 16 seats and its ally DMK will contest 14.

Ahead of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly elections, former Congress leader AV Subramanian on Friday resigned from all Congress party positions.

In a letter addressed to V Vaithilingam, President of the Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), Subramanian cited "private reasons and unavoidable circumstances" as reasons for the decision.

His decision comes after Puducherry Congress president V Vaithilingam released the party's list of 16 candidates for the upcoming elections earlier in the day.

Puducherry Congress Candidate List

According to the list, DPR Selvam will contest from Mannadipattu, while P Karthikeyan has been fielded from Oosudu.

Other prominent candidates include N Raja Kumar from Indiranagar, V Vaithilingam from Thattanchavady, PK Devadas from Kamarajnagar, and M Vaidyanathan from Lawspet.

G Rajendran will contest from Muthialpet, J Vijayalakshmi from Ariyankuppam, and RKR Anandaraman from Manavely.

The party has also fielded M Kandasamy from Embalam, G Anparasan from Nettapakkam, Dinesh Kumar from Nedungadu, R Kamalakannan from Thirunallar, and AM Ranjith from Karaikal North.

In Mahe, Ramesh Parampath has been named as the candidate, while Kollapalli Srinivas Ashok will contest from Yanam.

Congress-DMK Seat-Sharing Deal

The announcement follows a seat-sharing agreement finalised earlier this week between the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), under which Congress will contest 16 of the 30 seats, while the DMK will contest the remaining 14 constituencies.

"We will share seats among the alliance parties in the 14 seats allotted to DMK," the party's Puducherry election in-charge Jagadrakshagan said.

Congress and DMK are also alliance partners in Tamil Nadu, where the Chief Minister MK Stalin-led party allotted the Congress 28 of 234 seats for the 2026 Assembly elections.

Puducherry Election Schedule

The Union Territory of Puducherry is all set to hold the 2026 Assembly Election on April 9 in a single phase, with counting of votes scheduled to take place on May 4, the ECI announced. (ANI)

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