A fourth win for Congress, in a fractured field
What happened
The party governing Puducherry won again, though its lead narrowed further.
The Indian National Congress won 9 of the seats on offer.
It had now won 4 elections here in a row.
That was down from 15 seats at the previous election.
Its vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate — fell -4.7 pp.
What changed
This was a hung house — a result where no single party wins enough seats to govern alone.
8 parties won at least one seat.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam took second place with 7 seats.
This was also the first Puducherry election for the Tamil Maanila Congress.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from that election stand out.
The closest race was in Thirubuvanai, Puducherry, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, over whoever came second — of just 121 votes.
The widest margin was in Karaikal, Puducherry, where the winner led by 48.9% of the vote.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — peaked at 85.5% in Yanam, Puducherry.
Oupalam, Puducherry drew the largest field of the election, with 17 candidates on the ballot.
The backdrop
Congress's winning run continued in Puducherry, without ever crossing into majority territory.