Five years on, Puducherry set to test ‘double engine’ model as NDA seeks second term

Puducherry, which saw its first-ever AINRC-BJP Government installed in 2021, gets its earliest opportunity to deliver a verdict on five years of the much-touted “double-engine” governance model when the Union Territory goes to the polls on April 9, 2026, to elect the 16th Legislative Assembly.

The All India N.R. Congress (AINRC), led by four-time Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, leads the headcount in the 15th Legislative Assembly with 10 MLAs, while its ally, the BJP, has six. The DMK, the principal Opposition, has six, the Congress two and Independents six.

The run-up to the election can turn out to be a tame affair in comparison to the tumultuous phase that preceded the previous Assembly elections. There was a long-drawn stand-off between former Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy and then Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi over governance rights. His headline-hogging dharna in front of the Raj Nivas over Ms. Bedi’s “authoritarian and obstructionist” ways, and election-eve defections, eventually precipitated the collapse of the Congress Government on February 22, 2021, barely weeks before completing its term.

The AINRC-BJP front, in spite of signs of a rift over policy matters and portfolio allocation, has been cultivating a perception of stable governance—Mr. Rangasamy has especially attacked the confrontationist style of his predecessor, which he believes precipitated a governance crisis and development stalemate.

The counterview in the Opposition camp is that such a claim obscures the cause and only projects the effects of systematically impeding the functioning of an elected government that had begun its 2016-21 term with a comfortable majority of 15 Congress members and two DMK MLAs.

The bottom line of the 2021 verdict, though, was that Congress, which strutted about the political landscape of Puducherry as a dominant force for decades, failed to make a convincing case before the electorate and ended up with a record low tally of just two seats.

While the party may have somewhat recovered its standing when its candidate V. Vaithilingam trounced sitting BJP Minister A. Namassivayam by 1.36 lakh votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the ghosts of its 2021 debacle continue to haunt the party, especially in preserving its leadership role in the INDIA bloc. That the DMK, having emerged as the principal Opposition, appears keen to reset the power equation has not eased matters.

DMK Puducherry convenor and Leader of Opposition R. Siva has repeatedly pitched the idea for ushering in a “Dravidian model” government in the Union Territory, but what has further ruffled feathers in the Congress camp was when DMK MP and Puducherry in-charge S. Jagathrakshakan chaired a preliminary round of seat-sharing discussions separately with each of the allies in the INDIA bloc—the CPM, the CPI and the VCK.

This power struggle for primacy is one of the reasons why seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the DMK—the parties contested 14 and 13 seats respectively in 2021—have hardly been a smooth sailing.

In contrast, the NDA has been able to evolve a broad agreement among allies. Last week, the coalition announced a seat-sharing formula modelled on the 2021 pattern, with the AINRC contesting 16 seats and the BJP and other partners splitting the remaining 14 seats.

Nirmal Kumar Surana, BJP in-charge for Puducherry, who was in the city for talks with Mr. Rangasamy along with Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, had also hinted at expanding the alliance with Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi likely to enter the NDA fold. A point of interest surrounds the number of seats allotted to the AIADMK, which had contested five seats in 2021 but drew a blank.

While the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), which finished ahead of the AIADMK in the 2024 Lok Sabha results, will field candidates in 28 Assembly constituencies, it remains to be seen if Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) makes good its founder-president Vijay’s announcement to contest in Puducherry while addressing a public meeting here in December 2025.

As the rival fronts hit the campaign trail, the NDA will try to smother anti-incumbency by projecting the stability and welfare orientation of its term. In recent months, the Rangasamy government has, in an apparent course correction after the Lok Sabha defeat, reopened ration shops that were shut after the Direct Benefit Transfer system of cash in lieu of rice was imposed by the Centre during the Congress term, and restored rice distribution in the PDS.

The government has also been filling vacancies and rolling out a slew of welfare measures, such as monthly financial assistance to women heads of BPL families and a hike in pension for old and destitute persons.

The NDA will also look to extract political capital from the unveiling of projects worth about ₹2,700 crore by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a whistle-stop visit in March.

The INDIA bloc’s attack will likely revolve around the “promises-vs-delivery gap” of the Rangasamy government, lack of job opportunities and rising unemployment, perceived neglect of the UT in the Union Budget, deterioration in law and order, drug menace, exposure of a sensational temple land grab case and a fake drug manufacturing racket with nation-wide ramifications.

The Opposition has also charged that Mr. Rangasamy’s fourth stint as Chief Minister has been marked by an acquiescence to the BJP, a failure to stand up for federal rights, and a hollow commitment to the Statehood cause.

Both sides will be mindful of the changed calculus for securing the numbers to form a government, ever since the Union Government leveraged the provision of appointing three nominated legislators during the term of the previous Congress Government. With the Centre’s sole prerogative to appoint three nominated MLAs—whose rights are on a par with elected members—upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018, the ruling front enters the electoral battleground with a trump card that can swing fortunes, more so in the event of a hung Assembly.

Published – March 18, 2026 10:45 pm IST