2016 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election

It is a legal requirement that the election must be held at an interval of five years, or earlier if the assembly is dissolved by the President. The previous election was conducted on 13 April 2011 and its term would have naturally expired on 2 June 2016. The election was organised and conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The Indian National Congress and the Dravidia Munnetra Kazhagam were in an alliance and contested 21 and 9 seats respectively. Ruling AINRC, BJP & AIADMK will contest separately. The polling booths in three Assembly constituencies in Puducherry (out of total 30 segments) were equipped with Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines along with EVMs. == Parties and alliances==

Prominent Parties Other Parties NOTE: A total of 374 candidates (including independents) were in the fray for the election, of whom 305 forfeited their deposits. == Candidates ==

The election was held on 16 May 2016 in a single phase and 84.11% voting was recorded. The votes were counted on 19 May and results were declared on same day. == Result ==