Congress candidate V. Vaithilingam scored an impressive win in the Union Territory to retain the lone Puducherry Lok Sabha seat by a margin of more than 1.30 lakh votes over his immediate rival A. Namassivayam belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Towards the close of the counting of the total 8,077, 24 votes polled in the Union Territory, Mr. Vaithilingam had secured 3, 970, 43 votes compared to 2, 709, 12 garnered by Mr. Namassivayam.
Mr. Vaithilingam won the 2019 election by a margin of around 1.97 lakh votes over his AINRC rival K. Narayanasamy.
TheNaam Tamilar Katchi candidate, R. Menaga, was in the third position securing 36,877 votes. The AIADMK candidate, G. Thamizhvendhan, could secure only 23,236 votes. As many as 23 other candidates, majority of them independents, who were in the fray could secure votes in the range of 2000 to 150 votes. Around 8,200 voters opted for NOTA in the U.T.
Defeat and resurgence
The victory of Mr. Vaithilingam in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll comes against the backdrop of the humiliating defeat the party suffered in the 2021 Assembly election, winning only 2 out of the 15 seats the party contested in the Assembly poll to 30 seats.
Three years later, the Congress candidate has forged ahead in majority of the Assembly segments, including the seat that Chief Minister N. Rangasamy represents, in the Legislative Assembly. The candidate maintained a clear lead in almost 27 of the 30 Assembly segments, showing signs of revival of the Grand Old Party.
“The gains made by the Congress party is a clear reflection of the anger prevailing against the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre and in Puducherry. People have voted against the BJP because it failed to address the concerns of people,” he said addressing reporters at the counting centre.
The Congress party faced the voters in the Lok Sabha election with a clear agenda for governance and for the uplift of the poor, he added.
Published - June 05, 2024 12:28 am IST
