1996 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election

Elections to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly were held in April 1996, to elect members of the 30 constituencies in Puducherry (then known as Pondicherry), in India.^[1][2] The Indian National Congress won the most seats, but the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam won the popular vote, and R. V. Janakiraman was appointed as the Chief Minister of Puducherry.^[3][4]

1996 Pondicherry Legislative Assembly election

← 1991 27 April 1996 2001 →
30 seats in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly 16 seats needed for a majority
Registered	633,635
Turnout	75.33%
Majority party Minority party   Leader V. Vaithilingam R. V. Janakiraman Party INC DMK Seats before 15 4 Seats won 9 7 Seat change 6 3 Popular vote 28.39% 25.65%
CM before election V. Vaithilingam INC Elected CM R. V. Janakiraman DMK

List of Candidates

Constituency
		INC+			DMK+
1	Muthialpet		AIADMK	S. Anandavelu		DMK	G. Palaniraja
2	Cassicade		INC	S. Narayanasamy		Ind.	P. Kannan
3	Raj Bhavan		INC	A. Gandhirasu		DMK	S.P. Sivakumar
4	Bussy		INC	C.M. Achraff		CPI	Abdul Rachide
5	Oupalam		AIADMK	U.C. Arumugham		TMC(M)	S. Rathinam @ Manohar
6	Orleampeth		AIADMK	K. Parasuraman		DMK	R. Siva
7	Nellithope		AIADMK	D. Ramachandiren		DMK	R.V. Janakiraman
8	Modeliarpeth		INC	V. Kothandaraman Sababathy		CPI	M. Manjini
9	Ariankuppam		AIADMK	S. Sreedharan		DMK	T. Jayamoorthy
10	Embalom (SC)		INC	K. Pakkiriammal		DMK	P. Muthukrishnan
11	Nettapakkam		INC	V. Vaithilingam		DMK	P.M. Mathy @ Subbarayan
12	Kuruvinatham		INC	T. Thiagarajan		DMK	A. Annapoorni
13	Bahour (SC)		INC	P. Rajavelu		TMC(M)	M. Kandasamy
14	Thirubuvanai (SC)		AIADMK	S. Arasi		DMK	K. Jayaraj
15	Mannadipet		INC	N. Rajaram		TMC(M)	K. Rajasegaran
16	Ossudu (SC)		INC	N. Marimuthu		TMC(M)	V. Nagarathinam
17	Villenour		INC	P. Anandbaskaran		TMC(M)	C. Jayakumar
18	Ozhukarai		AIADMK	K. Natarajan		DMK	R.R. Somasundaram
19	Thattanchavady		INC	N. Rangasamy		DMK	V. Rathinavelu
20	Reddiarpalayam		AIADMK	Na. Manimaran		CPI	R. Viswanathan
21	Lawspet		INC	M.O.H.F. Shajahan		DMK	N. Kesavan
22	Cotchery		INC	R. Nalamagarajan		DMK	S. Shanmugam
23	Karaikal		AIADMK	H.M. Abdul Kader		DMK	A.M.H. Nazeem
24	Karaikal South		INC	A.V. Subramanian		DMK	S. Savarirajan
25	Neravy-Grand Aldee		AIADMK	A.M.K. Balu		DMK	V.M.C. Sivakkumar
26	Tirunallar		INC	R. Kamalakannan		DMK	A. Soundarengan
27	Neduncadu (SC)		INC	M. Chandirakasu		DMK	A. Marimuthu
28	Mahe		INC	E. Valsaraj		Ind.	Manoly Muhammad
29	Palloor		INC	A.V. Sreedharan		Ind.	P.K. Sathyanandan
30	Yanam		INC	Velaga Rajeswara Rao		Ind.	Malladi Krishna Rao

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	116,618	25.34	9	6
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	105,392	22.90	7	3
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	57,678	12.53	3	3
	Tamil Maanila Congress	42,485	9.23	5	New
	Communist Party of India	29,964	6.51	2	1
	Janata Dal	20,360	4.42	1	0
	Pattali Makkal Katchi	11,544	2.51	1	New
	Others	29,126	6.33	0	0
	Independents	47,126	10.24	2	1
Total		460,293	100.00	30	0
Valid votes		460,293	96.43
Invalid/blank votes		17,036	3.57
Total votes		477,329	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		633,635	75.33
Source: ECI[5]

Elected members

• Winner, runner-up, voter turnout, and victory margin in every constituency

Assembly Constituency		Turnout	Winner					Runner Up					Margin
#k	Names	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%
1	Muthialpet	69.96%	S. Anandavelu		AIADMK	11,009	56.26%	G. Palani Raja		DMK	8,098	41.39%	2,911
2	Cassicade	66.08%	P. Kannan		IND	6,501	63.21%	S. Narayanasamy		INC	3,195	31.06%	3,306
3	Raj Bhavan	65.39%	S. P. Sivakumar		DMK	2,697	58.54%	A. Gandhirasu		INC	1,159	25.16%	1,538
4	Bussy	60.37%	C. M. Achraff		INC	2,208	46.26%	A. Abdul Rachide		CPI	1,378	28.87%	830
5	Oupalam	72.39%	S. Rathinam @ Manohar		TMC(M)	6,866	50.79%	U. C. Arumugam		AIADMK	5,866	43.39%	1,000
6	Orleampeth	68.14%	R. Siva		DMK	8,105	49.16%	K. Parasuraman		AIADMK	5,107	30.97%	2,998
7	Nellithope	69.88%	R. V. Janakiraman		DMK	8,803	52.31%	D. Ramachandiren		AIADMK	7,354	43.70%	1,449
8	Mudaliarpet	71.54%	M. Manjini		CPI	11,380	49.69%	V. Sababady Kothandraman		INC	8,278	36.15%	3,102
9	Ariankuppam	79.25%	S. Ramsingh		PMK	7,382	37.86%	T. Jayamoorthy		DMK	6,329	32.46%	1,053
10	Embalam	78.31%	R. Rajaraman		JD	8,311	62.73%	K. Pakkiriammal		INC	3,454	26.07%	4,857
11	Nettapakkam	83.58%	V. Vaithilingam		INC	7,563	54.86%	V. Muthunarayana Reddiar		IND	5,036	36.53%	2,527
12	Kuruvinatham	87.32%	T. Thiagarajan		INC	7,209	48.85%	R. Ramanathan		MDMK	7,022	47.58%	187
13	Bahour	83.48%	M. Kandasamy		TMC(M)	7,921	51.95%	P. Rajavelu		INC	7,221	47.36%	700
14	Thirubuvanai	79.23%	S. Arasi		AIADMK	5,707	37.08%	K. Jayaraj		DMK	5,586	36.29%	121
15	Mannadipet	82.77%	K. Rajasegaran		TMC(M)	8,113	51.63%	N. Rajaram		INC	6,866	43.69%	1,247
16	Ossudu	80.14%	V. Nagarathinam		TMC(M)	7,380	53.78%	N. Marimuthu		INC	5,232	38.13%	2,148
17	Villianur	83.35%	C. Jayakumar		TMC(M)	12,205	64.56%	P. Anandabaskaran		INC	6,509	34.43%	5,696
18	Ozhukarai	75.71%	K. Natarajan		AIADMK	7,794	41.10%	R. R. Somasundaram		DMK	6,252	32.97%	1,542
19	Thattanchavady	72.14%	N. Rangaswamy		INC	9,989	42.95%	V. Pethaperumal		JD	7,699	33.11%	2,290
20	Reddiarpalayam	62.82%	R. Viswanathan		CPI	17,206	65.58%	Na. Manimaran		AIADMK	5,966	22.74%	11,240
21	Lawspet	71.79%	N. Kesavan		DMK	16,442	54.40%	M. O. H. F. Shahjahan		INC	10,211	33.78%	6,231
22	Cotchery	78.37%	R. Nalamagarajan		INC	7,630	47.53%	G. Panjavarnam		IND	5,968	37.17%	1,662
23	Karaikal North	67.73%	A. M. H. Nazeem		DMK	9,474	71.01%	H. M. Abdul Kader		AIADMK	2,946	22.08%	6,528
24	Karaikal South	75.45%	A. V. Subramanian		INC	6,676	57.48%	S. Savarirajan		DMK	4,717	40.61%	1,959
25	Neravy T R Pattinam	78.01%	V. M. C. Sivakumar		DMK	7,595	53.44%	S. T. P. Diravidamani		IND	4,385	30.85%	3,210
26	Thirunallar	78.92%	R. Kamalakannan		INC	6,063	48.53%	A. Soundarengan		DMK	4,938	39.53%	1,125
27	Nedungadu	83.17%	A. Marimuthu		DMK	6,899	54.93%	M. Chandirakasu		INC	5,116	40.74%	1,783
28	Mahe	76.06%	E. Valsaraj		INC	4,184	45.58%	Manoli Muhammad		IND	3,915	42.65%	269
29	Palloor	74.44%	A. V. Sreedharan		INC	4,253	45.40%	Panangatil Khader		JD	2,929	31.27%	1,324
30	Yanam	86.68%	Malladi Krishna Rao		IND	8,445	62.31%	Velaga Rajeshwara Rao		INC	3,602	26.58%	4,843

See also

• List of constituencies of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly
• 1996 elections in India