Puducherry election 2026: DMK announces candidates, VCK decides to contest alone in three seats

PUDUCHERRY: DMK has announced the candidates for the 13 constituencies the party is contesting under the INDIA bloc in the 2026 assembly polls in the Union territory of Puducherry. The party has shown faith in its sitting legislators and re-nominated all six current MLAs. It has fielded a candidate (S S Rangan) in Mangalam to challenge the chief minister and All India NR Congress (AINRC) founder N Rangasamy.The party has allotted one seat from its share to VCK. However, VCK has officially announced that it will contest the polls independently in three constituencies. It declared that it will support the INDIA bloc candidates in the rest of the constituencies. VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan, in a statement, cited "prolonged delay" and "lack of cooperation" from the Congress and DMK as the primary reasons for the fallout. DMK may announce a candidate for the seat allocated to VCK if the party does not reconcile with the INIDIA bloc. The CPM had earlier announced that it would face the polls independently. Congress is yet to announce the list of candidates. Once the list is out, both parties will work to ensure the withdrawal of nomination papers of their candidates in the constituencies allotted to their partners before the March 26 deadline.Supporters of former chief minister V Narayanasamy continued their protest for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, accusing the Lok Sabha MP and Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president V Vaithilingam of denying a seat for Narayanasamy to contest the polls. They picketed the PPCC office and blocked the road, demanding the removal of Vaithilingam.The constituents of the NDA camp, AINRC, BJP, AIADMK and LJK, have announced their candidates earlier. The Union territory has 30 seats.