Puducherry Assembly election: Seat finalisation impasse in both NDA and INDIA fronts

The talks on seat-sharing and finalising candidates for the April 9 Assembly elections has hit a roadblock in both the ruling NDA and the Opposition INDIA bloc.

A BJP team led by Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and party’s in-charge for Puducherry has returned after a meeting with the central leadership in Delhi and is camping in the city to seal a deal.

Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, though, has left on a pilgrimage and talks are only likely after he returns. He had also skipped an earlier round of discussions with BJP leaders, choosing instead, to nominate a team led by Tourism Minister K. Lakshminarayanan.

While the NDA has been able to evolve a broad consensus on retaining the 16:14 seat-sharing arrangement of 2021 — the AINRC contesting 16 and the BJP apportioning the remaining seats among alliance partners — there continues to be stiff opposition from the Rangasamy camp to the BJP’s plan to draft the Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi headed by businessman Jose Charles Martin into the NDA.

As far the INDIA bloc is concerned, an impasse has developed in the seat-sharing deal between principal allies, the Congress and the DMK.

Amid the DMK’s demand for more seats than the 13 allotted in 2021, a Congress delegation led by Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee president V. Vaithilingam is camping in New Delhi.

The DMK leadership in Chennai is also engaged in deliberations regarding their position on what the seat tally should be.

More than anything else, the narrowing window for filing of nominations — the deadline has been set for March 23 — may force both fronts to reach some form of agreement.