Outgoing chief minister N Rangaswamy of the AINRC arriving at a polling booth in Puducherry. (PTI photo)
The Congress, which has been decimated in Assam by the BJP and by the Left front in Kerala have managed to
wrest power in the union territory of Puducherry in alliance with the DMK winning 17 of the 30 assembly seats.
The All India NR Congress led by outgoing chief minister N Rangaswamy, which broke away from the Congress in 2011, could only retain 8 of the 17 seats it had won in the previous elections.
Congress which contested 21 seats won in 15 seats. DMK emerged successful in two seats, giving the alliance a clear majority.
"I congratulate the people of Puducherry for giving the party the mandate," said Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Early trends had suggested a close contest between the Congress and the NRC followed by AIADMK, which has won 4 seats contesting alone.
Independent V Ramachandran, backed by the People's Welfare Alliance (PWA), defeated Congress heavyweight E Valsaraj in Mahel.
Prominent among the successful Congress candidates are former chief minister and leader of the opposition in the outgoing assembly V Vaithilingam (Kamaraj Nagar) and Pradesh Congress Commitee President A Namassivayam (Villianur).
In Karaikal South constituency, five-time DMK MLA AMH Nazeem lost to AIADMK's KAU Asana by a slender margin of 20 votes.
Former Congress strongman P Kannan, who joined the AIADMK on the eve of the elections, lost to his protege K Lakshminarayanan in Raj Bhavan constituency.
The PWA comprising DMDK, MDMK, CPI-M, CPI and RSP contested 28 constituencies but drew a blank so did the BJP, which had fielded candidates in all 30 seats.
With the Congress-DMK combine getting the majority mark, the focus will now shift to choosing the chief minister. Though none was projected as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance, Namassivayam and Vaithilingam are front runners for the post.