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NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Sunday announced the schedule for the 2026 Puducherry Assembly election, with polling to be held in a single phase on April 9 and counting of votes on May 4. Voting will take place for all 30 constituencies of the 16th Puducherry Legislative Assembly.Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, addressing a press conference, said elections across the four states and one Union Territory must be conducted in a free, fair and violence-free manner. He said the Election Commission would take strong action against any attempt at violence or inducement and ensure greater transparency in the counting process and announcement of results.
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Puducherry Election 2026: Key dates
For Puducherry, the election will be held in one phase on April 9, while the result will be declared on May 4. The Union Territory goes to the polls along with Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.The EC has announced voting for all 30 Assembly seats in Puducherry, where nearly 9.44 lakh voters are eligible to cast their ballots.
Puducherry voters and polling stations
According to data shared by the Election Commission, Puducherry has around 4.43 lakh male voters, 5 lakh female voters and 139 third-gender electors, taking the total electorate to about 9.44 lakh. Among them, the Union Territory has 54 centenarian voters, 6,034 voters aged 85 and above, and 12,204 persons with disabilities (PwD). It also has 23,033 first-time voters aged 18 to 19, around 1.87 lakh voters in the 20–29 age group, and 328 service electors.Polling will be held across 1,099 polling stations, of which 610 are in urban areas and 489 in rural areas. The EC said the average number of electors per polling station in Puducherry is 859, which falls within the 750–900 range across the five poll-bound regions.
The Commission also said Puducherry will have 30 model polling stations, 60 women-managed polling stations, and four PwD-managed polling stations. Importantly, 100 per cent webcasting will be in place at polling stations.
What the Election Commission said
CEC Gyanesh Kumar said a total of 17.4 crore voters are eligible to vote in elections to five assemblies with 824 constituencies. Across the four states and one Union Territory, polling will be conducted at around 2.19 lakh polling stations, with nearly 25 lakh election officials deployed.Kumar said the number of total voters across the five poll-bound regions is equivalent to the population of countries such as Australia, France, South Africa, Germany and Canada. He also said pure electoral rolls are the bedrock of democracy and stressed that no eligible voter should be left out, while no ineligible voter should be included.The CEC added that representatives of election bodies from 20 countries will visit the poll-bound states to observe India’s electoral process, which he described as the “Festival of Democracy”.
What happened in the 2021 Puducherry election?
The last Assembly election in Puducherry was held in 2021, when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a simple majority. N Rangaswamy of the All India NR Congress (AINRC) was sworn in as chief minister for the fourth time.In that election, the NDA won 16 seats with a 44.2 per cent vote share, while the UPA won eight seats.Party-wise, AINRC emerged as the largest party with 10 seats and a 26.2 per cent vote share. The DMK won six seats with 18.8 per cent vote share, while the BJP also won six seats with 13.8 per cent vote share. The Congress won two seats with 15.9 per cent vote share.
NDA’s 2026 seat-sharing plan
Ahead of the 2026 election, the AINRC-BJP alliance has already finalised its seat-sharing arrangement. Under the formula, AINRC will contest 16 seats, while the BJP-led combine will contest 14 seats.The alliance has said it is also in talks with the AIADMK. In the previous election, five seats had been allotted to the AIADMK from the BJP’s quota.
Puducherry Election 2026 result date
The Puducherry Assembly Election 2026 result will be declared on May 4, when counting is taken up along with the other four state elections. Go to Source
