Congress has managed to retain the Kamaraj Nagar Assembly seat in Puducherry by winning the bypoll held on October 21.
John kumar, the companion of Chief Minister V.Narayanaswamy, polled 14,782 votes out of the total 24,310 polled in the by-election conducted on October 21. The AINRC candidate Bhuvaneshwaram secured 7,612 votes.
Kumar contested the by-election as part of alliance between Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK), whereas Bhuvenashwaram contested in All India NR Congress(AINRC)-All India Dravida Munnetra Kazagham(AIADMK)-Bharatiya Janta Party(BJP) alliance.
“I thank people for giving a big mandate and making me win. My first priority will be to provide basic necessities to people,” said John Kumar during an interview with news agency.
“I also congratulate my opponents who worked hard but couldn’t win Puducherry ,” he added.
The votes were counted at Motilal Nehru Government Polytechnic College in neighbouring Lawspet amid tight security.
Nine candidates had contested the elections. The main contingents were from Congress and AINRC.
With the victory, Congress’ strength in the territorial assembly has restored to 15 in which Congress is in coalition with DMK.
The territorial assembly has 30 elected legislators and three nominated members. The bypoll was necessitated after the incumbent legislator V.Vaithilngam quit following his election to Los Sabha from the lone seat in April.
AINRC lost all three by polls since congress formed the government in 2016.
