The constituency was vacated by Chief Minister N Rangasamy after he won two seats in April’s election. Ashok Anand has returned to the Thattanchavady Assembly seat after a seven-year gap, winning Friday’s bypoll for the ruling All India NR Congress by 8,482 votes. Congress finished second as Anand reclaimed a constituency he previously won in both 2011 and 2016.
In the latest general election, Rangasamy contested from Thattanchavady and Mangalam and won both seats. For Anand, the victory marks a return to the Puducherry Assembly from a constituency he represented for two consecutive terms. For the NR Congress, it means retaining the seat vacated by its party chief just months after the ruling alliance returned to power. Thattanchavady has been closely associated with Rangasamy’s political career for more than three decades. He subsequently chose to represent Mangalam, creating a vacancy in Thattanchavady. Anand was a familiar choice for the party. The former MLA’s return to electoral politics has now taken him back to the same constituency. Election officials first took up postal ballots before counting votes recorded through electronic voting machines.
He first won the constituency on a Congress ticket in 1991 and retained it in 1996, 2001 and 2006. After launching the All India NR Congress in 2011, Rangasamy continued his association with the constituency, winning it again in 2021 and in the April 2026 Assembly election. The Election Commission scheduled the bypoll for October 6, giving the ruling party an opportunity to retain the constituency through another candidate. He had won Thattanchavady in the 2011 and 2016 Assembly elections before his earlier tenure ended following his disqualification in 2018. Counting began at 8 am on Friday at the Motilal Nehru Government Polytechnic College in Lawspet.
