Puducherry election 2026: Upset VCK exits DMK-Congress alliance, decides to contest alone

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) founder Thol was upset that only one Assembly seat was allotted in Puducherry. Thirumavalavan announced on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, that the party will contest on its own in the Union Territory (UT). It will field candidates in three constituencies namely Ossudu, Nettappakkam and Uzhavarkarai.

24 March 2026 Parliament Election Updates

In his statement, Mr. Thirumavalavan said that the party will support the “secular” Congress-DMK alliance in the remaining 27 constituencies.

The unexpected announcement comes at a time when VCK is seeking around three seats in Puducherry and a “double-digit” number of Assembly seats and Rajya Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Thirumavalavan stated that the seat-sharing arrangement between the DMK and the Congress was finalized after long delays and the last date of filing nominations for the Puducherry Assembly elections was approaching.

“The Congress, which is contesting in majority of the constituencies in the alliance, has not come forward to allocate seats to other partners. A proposal has been made by the DMK to allocate a constituency to the VCK. However, even after the nomination process is over, it is yet to be confirmed which constituency it will be. Moreover, the Congress Party has also fielded candidates in all the constituencies where the VCK candidates have nominated. As a result, our Party functionaries too have been subjected to unnecessary mental stress,” he said.

He pointed out that VCK has been a part of the Secular Progressive Alliance in Puducherry for several years.

“In the 2001 elections, we contested in two constituencies under the DMK-led alliance. In the 2021 elections, the Congress party allotted us only the Uzhavarkarai general constituency. We accepted it and objected to avoid any tension within the alliance at that time. However, we did not get enough cooperation from the alliance partners. Despite this, we received over 6 thousand votes,” he said.