Puducherry is expected to witness a multi-cornered contest, with the ruling All India NR Congress (AINRC) not likely to repeat its performance in the May 16 Assembly elections.

With the DMK-Congress combine, which is projected to win at least 10 seats out of the total 20 constituencies, the AINRC will face touch competition in several segments against the AIADMK. Also, Vijayakanth’s DMDK-People’s welfare, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and BJP are also in the race.

With more than nine lakh voters, Puducherry is the third most thickly populated area in the country where tourism and fisheries are the two primary sectors.

Road safety, drinking water crisis and statehood status are the main issues in Puducherry with people disappointed with AINRC President and Chief Minister Rangasway failing to provide employment opportunities to the youth.

“He (Rangaswamy) promised to provide thousands of government jobs. But several hundreds of government employees were dismissed due to financial crunch”, says K. Suresh, an unemployed youth, working part time in a hotel in Puducherry.

Stating that it was for the first time Puducherry was heading for a water crisis, “in the last four months, many people started purchasing drinking water since government water supply is irregular”, Suresh said.

As road safety is an important issue concerning Puducherry, the recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that this Union Territory had the highest number of accidental deaths per population density. The NCRB survey said that Puducherry registered 68 deaths per lakh of population, which was much higher than the national average of 32.

“We badly required road safety measures here. We hope the new government would fulfill that”, a first time voter, said.

In the present situation, an outcome could not be predicted perfectly and political observers do not rule out the possibility of a post-poll alliance here.

The demand of statehood has also become most important issue in Puducherry Assembly elections this year with political parties having different opinions.

With the ruling AINRC insisting on the State tag, the DMK-Congress could go a step forward and ask for special status for Puducherry. Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Narayanasamy said special category status would ensure to get more Central funds.