Pondicherry Polls: 86.31 pc turn out

Pondicherry: The Union Territory of Pondicherry recorded a high voting aggregrate of 86.31 per cent in the two-phase polls held on May 3 and May 8, Election office sources said on Tuesday.

Ossudu, where Congress rebel A Elumalai is contesting, registered the highest voter turnout of 92.05 per cent.

On being denied the party ticket, Elumalai, Local Administration Minister in the N Rangasamy government resigned from the ministry and filed his nomination as an independent.

T Mathivanan (DMK) has been allotted the seat, from where eight candidates, including AIADMK's S Arasi and BJP's A Kannan, are in the fray, besides Elumalai and Mathivanan.

The Nettapakkam assembly segment, from where former Chief Minister V Vaithilingam is locked in a quadrilateral contest, recorded 90.11 per cent.

Vaithilingam is pitted against his brother V Muthunarayanan, contesting on the Pudhucherry Munnetra Congress ticket, among others.

The Thattanchavady assembly segment from where Chief Minister N Rangasamy is seeking election for the third time recorded 83.64 per cent, the sources said. Besides, Rangasamy there are five other candidates.

Mannadipet from where another congress rebel candidate N Rajaram is contesting recorded a polling percentage of 89.86.

P Arulmurugan of the PMK, a partner of the Congress-led DPA, has been allotted the seat. There are 30 assembly constituencies in the Union Territory.

The lowest voting percentage came from Raj Bhavan where 75.93 per cent polling was recorded. The second lowest was at Reddiarpalayam where 76.64 per cent of the 44,524 votes were cast.

While the Pondicherry enclave, comprising 21 assembly seats, registered a turnout of 85.07 per cent, Karaikal, which has six assembly constituencies, recorded 84.75 per cent.

In Mahe, an enclave of the Union Territory in Kerala, which has two assembly seats, 78.98 of the 26,971 electorate had voted and in Yanam an enclave of Pondicherry in Andhra Pradesh, 96.44 per cent of the 18,739 electorate had exercised their franchise.

Mahe and Yanam went to the polls in the first phase on May 3.