Raj Bhavan Assembly Election 2026: BJP's VP Ramalingam faces tough multi-cornered contest
BJP’s VP Ramalingam is in the race along with Congress candidate R Kumaran and DMK’s Vignesh Kannan. The presence of NTK’s S Karpagavalli and TVK’s VJ Chandran has further widened the field.
The political contest in Raj Bhavan constituency is gaining momentum ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, with several parties fielding strong contenders.
Raj Bhavan candidate
BJP’s VP Ramalingam is in the race along with Congress candidate R Kumaran and DMK’s Vignesh Kannan. The presence of NTK’s S Karpagavalli and TVK’s VJ Chandran has further widened the field, turning the election into a keenly watched multi-cornered fight.
Raj Bhavan constituency demographic profile
Raj Bhavan, one of the 30 Assembly constituencies in Puducherry, falls under the Puducherry Lok Sabha constituency and is a General seat. For the 2026 elections, the constituency has a total of 20,962 registered voters, including 9,587 male voters, 11,369 female voters, and 6 voters from the third gender category.
In comparison, there were 26,329 voters in 2021, 25,713 in 2016, and 24,802 in 2011. The electorate gender ratio has steadily improved over the years, rising to 1,186 in 2026 from 1,153 in 2021, 1,131 in 2016, and 1,134 in 2011. The number of service voters has remained minimal, recorded at 0 in 2021, 3 in 2016, and 1 in 2011.
Raj Bhavan constituency past winners
The constituency has witnessed closely fought elections in the past. In 2021, K. Lakshminarayanan of AINRC won the seat by defeating DMK’s S.P. Sivakumar with a margin of 3,732 votes.
In 2016, Lakshminarayanan, then with Congress, secured victory against AIADMK’s P. Kannan by 2,225 votes.
Earlier in 2011, he again won as a Congress candidate, defeating M. Saravanakumar of AIADMK by a margin of 7,071 votes, underlining his strong political influence in the constituency.