PUDUCHERRY, May 20 (Agencies) : The Congress - DMK combine is all set to form the government by winning 17 out of 30 seats in the union territory. The Congress emerged as the single largest party securing 15 seats against seven it won in the previous assembly elections. Its ally, DMK, won two seats.
The ruling AINRC has been restricted to 8 seats, way behind 15 seats the party won in the previous Assembly elections. The AIADMK won four seats this time against five in 2011. The BJP, PMK and PWA drew a blank.
Practically it has been reversal of results for Congress and AINRC compared to the 2011 Assembly elections. For the AINRC, except the Chief Minister N Rangasamy, all the four ministers P Rajavelou, N G Paneerselvam, T Thiagrajan and P R Siva were defeated. The party also lost seats where rebel candidates contested.
Four women have been elected to the Assembly for the first time after 1996 when there was one woman representative in the House. The surprise element was the big win by Deepam Ramachandran, an Independent candidate who defeated E.Valsaraj, a six time winner from Mahe.