NDA To Get Second Straight Term In Puducherry With 16-20 Of 30 Seats: Axis My India Exit Poll

Politics in Puducherry swings very frequently, and this time around it has swung back towards the AINRC-led NDA government, four exit polls predicted, giving NRC+, the NDA combine led by Chief Minister N Rangasamy's AINRC 16 to 25 seats. None of the polls has given the alliance fewer than 16 seats, which also happens to be the majority mark. The exit polls have given between four and 12 seats to the Congress-led bloc, which was looking to wrest power from the ruling government in the Union Territory.

Actor-politician Vijay-led TVK-NMK, which created a lot of buzz and expectations, is projected to win one to four seats, two exit polls predicted. TVK, for which the Puducherry election was its first electoral outing outside Tamil Nadu, had announced candidates for all 30 constituencies.

The BJP, which was pulling out all the stops to emerge as the main player in the union territory, is projected to secure between four and six votes, predicted Axis My India exit poll. (Live updates here).

This is what exit polls predict:

Praja Poll: NRC+ (19-25) | CONG+ (6-10)

Kamakhya Analytics: NRC+ (17-24) | CONG+ (4-7) | TVK+ (1-2) | OTH (0-1)

Axis My India: NRC+ (16-20) | CONG+ (6-8) | TVK+ (2-4) | OTH (1-3)

Peoples Pulse: NRC+ (16-19) | CONG+ (10-12) | OTH (1-2)

Read | Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy, NDA's Unflappable Patron 'Saint'

Health Warning: Exit polls often get it wrong

Per Peoples Pulse, the NDA holds a clear lead across key parameters - development performance, welfare delivery, community preference, choice of Chief Minister and overall party preference, cutting across age groups and gender. 

Puducherry - with 30 seats - voted on April 9 and registered a record 89.87 polling percentage, the highest so far since 1964 when the first Assembly election was held following the merger of the territory with India after its independence. Results will be declared on May 4.

In 2016, the Congress-led alliance secured a clear majority. Five years later, in 2021, a shift of just a few percentage points in key constituencies produced a dramatically different outcome, with the NDA-aligned bloc taking control, securing 16 of 30 seats. 

In 2026, AINRC contested 16 assembly constituencies, while the BJP fought on 10 seats, and both the AIADMK and LJK contested two seats each.

The INDIA bloc includes Congress, which is contesting 16 assembly constituencies, and the DMK, contesting 14 seats. VCK, which is part of the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in Tamil Nadu, has decided to contest on three assembly seats in Puducherry independently after being offered only one.