Puducherry Legislative Assembly


The Puducherry Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian union territory of Puducherry, which comprises four districts: Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahé and Yanam. The legislative assembly has 33 seats, of which 5 are reserved for candidates from scheduled castes and 3 members are nominated by the Government of India. 30 out of 33 Members are elected directly by the people on the basis of universal adult franchise.
Geographically, the area under the Puducherry UT consists of three disjointed regions, with Puducherry and Karaikal districts surrounded by districts of Tamil Nadu, Yanam district an enclave of East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, and Mahé district bordered by districts of Kerala. The four districts were ruled by French before they were integrated into India in 1962. For ease of administration, during French rule, the area under these four districts was divided into 39 assembly constituencies. After becoming a UT of India, Puducherry was divided into 30 assembly constituencies, which were restructured in 2005 by the Delimitation Commission of India.

Assembly during French rule

In 1946, French India became Overseas territory of France.
Then a Representative Assembly was created. Thus, in 1946, on October 25, the representative assembly of 44 members has replaced the general council. The Representative Assembly had 44 seats until merger of Chandernagore in 1951. Later, it reduced to 39 seats.

Merger and formation of Union Territory

French Government transferred the four enclaves to the Indian Union under a de facto treaty on 1 November 1954. Later the territory was merged with India on 16 August 1962.
In 1963 on 10th May, as the people aspired for a popular Government, the Indian Parliament enacted the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 that came into force on 1 July 1963, and the pattern of Government prevailing in the rest of the country was introduced in this territory also, but subject to certain limitations. Under Article 239 of the Indian Constitution, the President of India appoints an Administratoras LG with such designation as he may specify to head the administration of the territory. The President also appoints the Chief Minister. The President on the advice of the Chief Minister appoints the other Ministers.
The Union Territories Act, 1963 has limited the number of elected members of assembly to 30 and also allowed a provision to central government to appoint not more than 3 nominated MLAs. Also, the same act has ensure that seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes in the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory.
The Representative Assembly was converted into the Legislative Assembly of Pondicherry on 1 July 1963 as per Section 54 of The Union Territories Act, 1963 and its members were deemed to have been elected to the Assembly. Thus, the First Legislative Assembly has been formed without any election. The elections for the Puducherry Vidhan Sabha held since 1964.

Name

Puducherry has 5 official languages, namely, French, Tamil; Telugu, Malayalam and English. In each of these languages, the Legislative Assembly is referred as below
  1. French: Assemblée législative de puducherry
  2. Tamil: புதுச்சேரி சட்டப்பேரவை
  3. Telugu: పుదుచ్చేరి శాసనసభ
  4. Malayalam: പുതുച്ചേരി നിയമസഭ
  5. English: Puducherry Legislative Assembly

    Governance

The Centre is represented by the Lt Governor, who resides at the Raj Niwas, Rangapillai Street, the former palace of the French Governor General of Puducherry. The Central government is more directly involved in the financial well-being of the territory, as against the states where financial administration, given a budgeted central grant is the responsibility to the state governments. Consequently, Puducherry has at various times, enjoyed lower taxes, especially in the indirect category.

Constituencies

The structure of the Puducherry Legislature is unicameral. The Legislative Assembly consists of 33 members. The people on the basis of adult franchise directly elect all the members.
In terms of the provisions of the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 the normal tenure of the Assembly is five years, unless sooner dissolved. There are 16 Committees in the Assembly.
Parliamentary and assembly constituencies of Puducherry were redesigned by Delimitation Commission of India based on data obtained in 2001 census of India. On 4 January 2008, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs decided to implement the order from the Delimitation Commission.. In addition, three members can be nominated to the assembly by the central government.

After 1963 Delimitation

As per The Union Territories Act, 1963, thirty members would be elected through direct suffrage.
Before the Elections to constitute the First Pondicherry Legislative Assembly were held in August 1964, the constituencies were delimited by the Delimitation Commission and the entire territory was divided into 30 single-member constituencies-21 for Pondicherry region, 6 for Karaikal region, 2 for Mahe region and 1 for Yanam region. Out of these 5 seats were reserved for Scheduled Castes, four in Pondicherry region and one in Karaikal region.

Before delimitation of 2008

The Puducherry Legislative Assembly has 30 constituencies. Out of them 21 constituencies belong to Puducherry, Karaikal has 6 in number, Mahé has 2 in number and Yanam has a single constituency.
Puducherry was divided among these 21 assembly constituencies: Muthialpet, Cassicade, Raj Bhavan, Bussy, Oupalam, Orleampeth, Nellithope, Modeliarpeth, Ariankuppam, Embalom, Nettapakkam, Kuruvinatham, Bahour, Thirubuvanai, Mannadipeth, Ossudu, Villenour, Ozhukarai, Thattanchavady, Reddiarpalayam and Lawspet.
Area under Karaikal district was divided among the following 6 assembly constituencies: Cotchery, Karaikal, Karaikal South, Neravy-Grand Alde, Tirunallar and Neduncadu.
Assembly constituencies of Mahé and Palloor were from Mahé district. The Yanam district formed a single assembly constituency, i.e. Yanam.

After delimitation of 2008

Post delimitation, the Puducherry parliamentary constituencies is divided among 30 assembly constituencies, as before. Now, Yanam and Mahé districts form a single constituency each, viz Yanam and Mahé, respectively. The area under Karaikal district forms 5 assembly constituencies, viz Nedungadu, Thirunallar, Karaikal North, Karaikal South and Neravy T R Pattinam. The area under the Puducherry district forms 23 assembly constituencies, viz Mannadipet, Thirubuvanai, Ossudu, Mangalam, Villianur, Ozhukarai, Kadirkamam, Indira Nagar, Thattanchavady, Kamaraj Nagar, Lawspet, Kalapet, Muthialpet, Raj Bhavan, Oupalam, Orleampeth, Nellithope, Mudaliarpet, Ariankuppam, Manavely, Embalam, Nettapakkam and Bahour.
The constituencies of Thirubuvanai, Ossudu, Embalam, Nettapakkam and Nedungadu are reserved for candidates from SC.

Current MLAs

Puducherry Region

Constituency
No.		Constituency NameReserved for
DistrictCurrent MLAPartyLok Sabha
Constituency
1Mannadipet-PuducherryT. P. R. SelvameAll India N.R. CongressPuducherry
2ThirubuvanaiSCPuducherryB. KobigaAll India N.R. CongressPuducherry
3OssuduSCPuducherryE. TheeppainthanIndian National CongressPuducherry
4Mangalam-PuducherryS. V. SugumaranAll India N.R. CongressPuducherry
5Villianur-PuducherryA. NamassivayamIndian National CongressPuducherry
6Ozhukarai-PuducherryM. N. R. BalanIndian National CongressPuducherry
7Kadirkamam-PuducherryN. S. J. JayabalAll India N.R. CongressPuducherry
8Indira Nagar-PuducherryN. RangaswamyAll India N.R. CongressPuducherry
9Thattanchavady-PuducherryK. VentakesanDravida Munnetra KazhagamPuducherry
10Kamaraj Nagar-PuducherryA. John KumarIndian National CongressPuducherry
11Lawspet-PuducherryV. P. SivakolundhuIndian National CongressPuducherry
12Kalapet-PuducherryM. O. H. F. ShahjahanIndian National CongressPuducherry
13Muthialpet-PuducherryVaiyapuri ManikandanAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra KazhagamPuducherry
14Raj Bhavan-PuducherryK. LakshminarayanIndian National CongressPuducherry
15Oupalam-PuducherryA. AnbalaganAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra KazhagamPuducherry
16Orleampeth-PuducherryR. SivaDravida Munnetra KazhagamPuducherry
17Nellithope-PuducherryV. NarayanasamyIndian National CongressPuducherry
18Mudaliarpet-PuducherryA. BaskarAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra KazhagamPuducherry
19Ariankuppam-PuducherryT. DjeamourthyIndian National CongressPuducherry
20Manavely-PuducherryR. K. R. AnantharamanIndian National CongressPuducherry
21EmbalamSCPuducherryM. Candassamy Indian National CongressPuducherry
22NettapakkamSCPuducherryV. VizeavenyIndian National CongressPuducherry
23Bahour-PuducherryDanavelouIndian National CongressPuducherry
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Karaikal Region

Constituency
No.		Constituency NameReserved for
DistrictCurrent MLAPartyLok Sabha
constituency
24NedungaduSCKaraikalChandirapriyangaAll India N.R. CongressPuducherry
25Thirunallar-KaraikalR. KamalakkannanIndian National CongressPuducherry
26Karaikal North-KaraikalP. R. N. ThirumuruganAll India N.R. CongressPuducherry
27Karaikal South-KaraikalK. A. U. AsanaAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra KazhagamPuducherry
28Neravy T R Pattinam-KaraikalGeetha AnandanDravida Munnetra KazhagamPuducherry

Mahe Region

Constituency
No.		Constituency
Name		Reserved for
DistrictCurrent MLAPartyLok Sabha
constituency
29Mahe-MaheV. RamachandranIndependentPuducherry

Yanam Region

Constituency
No.		Constituency NameReserved for
DistrictCurrent MLAPartyLok Sabha
constituency
30Yanam-YanamMalladi Krishna RaoIndian National CongressPuducherry

Nominated Members

Constituency
No.		Constituency NameCurrent MLAPartyLok Sabha
constituency
-Nominated by Govt. of IndiaV. SaminathanBharatiya Janata PartyPuducherry
-Nominated by Govt. of IndiaK. G. ShankarBharatiya Janata PartyPuducherry
-Nominated by Govt. of IndiaS. SelvaganapathyBharatiya Janata PartyPuducherry