Puducherry, March 24 Disgruntled supporters of former Chief Minister V Narayanasamy held a protest here on Tuesday against Puducherry Congress president V Vaithalingam for "denying a ticket" for the April 9 Assembly elections in the union territory.
According to party sources, Narayanasamy had expressed his intention to contest from the Nellithope constituency. However, the seat has been allocated to DMK, a major constituent of the INDI bloc.
DMK has announced V Karthikeyan as the candidate for the Nellithope seat.
Vaithalingam, the sole Member of Parliament from the union territory, is contesting the Assembly elections. He filed his nomination on Monday to contest from Thattanchavady, where AINRC leader and Chief Minister N Rangasamy is seeking to retain the constituency.
With the denial of a seat to Narayanasamy, his supporters protested in front of Vaithalingam's house and also at the Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee office. They raised slogans against Vaithalingam, and the police arrived at the site and restored normalcy, sources said.
Narayanasamy contested from the Nellithope constituency in a by-election in 2016 after he became the Chief Minister of the union territory. He did not contest in the 2021 elections.
The Congress and DMK reached an agreement on Monday for the upcoming Assembly elections in the union territory, where the Congress will contest 16 seats. The remaining 14 seats have been allocated to the DMK.
The filing of nominations for the elections ended on Monday. The scrutiny of nominations will begin on March 24, and the last date for withdrawing candidates is March 26.
Single-phase polling for 30 seats in the union territory is scheduled for April 9.
