Puducherry, April 7 Campaigning for the April 9 elections to the Puducherry Union Territory Assembly will conclude on Tuesday evening as political parties, independent candidates, and dissident candidates from political parties made a last-ditch effort to win over voters.
The Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe, and Yanam regions of the Union Territory (UT) together have 30 seats in the Assembly.
A total of 294 candidates are contesting the election. The upcoming poll is a prestige battle for the NDA and INDIA blocs.
The election authorities have launched several awareness programs across the UT to encourage voters to turn out to polling booths, with the aim of increasing the voter turnout percentage.
In the ruling NDA, the AINRC is contesting in 16 constituencies, its ally BJP in 10, and AIADMK and LJK are contesting in two constituencies each.
The opposition, the INDIA bloc, after a protracted seat-sharing negotiation, reached an agreement to allocate 16 constituencies to Congress, and to field DMK in 13 and VCK in one (Uzhavarkarai). However, Congress candidates are contesting from 6 constituencies that were allocated to DMK, and they defied the ruling party's call to withdraw.
The fledgling Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) fielded candidates in 28 of the 30 constituencies and is backing the Neyyam Makkal Kazhagam in the remaining two constituencies (Thattanchavady and Orleanpet).