Puducherry Legislative Assembly

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Puducherry Legislative Assembly

புதுச்சேரி சட்டப் பேரவை
15th Puducherry Assembly
Seal of Puducherry.svg
Type
Type
Unicameral
Term limits
5 years
History
Founded1 July 1963; 58 years ago (1963-07-01)
Preceded byPuducherry Representative Assembly
Leadership
TBD
Chief Minister (Leader of House)
N. Rangaswamy, AINRC
since 07 May 2021
Leader of the Opposition
R. Siva, DMK
since 08 May 2021
Structure
Seats33 (30 Elected + 3 Nominated)
Puducherry Legislative Assembly 2021.svg
Political groups
Government (25)
  •   AINRC (10)
  •   BJP (9)
  •   IND (6)

Opposition (8)

Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
6 April 2021
Next election
Meeting place
Pondicherry Legislative Assembly.jpg
Puducherry Legislative Assembly

The Puducherry Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian union territory (UT) 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.

Pondicherry Assembly seats

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 (Inde française) became Overseas territory (Territoire d'outre-mer) of France. Then a Representative Assembly (Assemblée représentative) was created. Thus, in 1946, on 25 October, the representative assembly of 44 members has replaced the general council (conseil général).[1] The Representative Assembly had 44 seats until merger of Chandernagore in 1951. Later, it reduced to 39 seats.

Merger and formation of Union Territory[]

The French government transferred the four enclaves to the Indian Union under a de facto treaty on 1 November 1954.[2] Later the territory was merged with India on 16 August 1962.

On 10 May 1963, the Indian Parliament enacted the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 that came into force on 1 July 1963. This introduced the same pattern of government that prevailed in the rest of the country, but subject to certain limitations.[3] Under Article 239 of the Indian Constitution, the President of India appoints an Administrator 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 limits the number of elected members of the assembly to 30 and allows the central government to appoint not more than 3 nominated MLAs. The same act ensures that seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes in the legislative assembly.

The Representative Assembly was converted into the Legislative Assembly of Pondicherry on 1 July 1963 as per Section 54(3) of The Union Territories Act, 1963[3] and its members were deemed to have been elected to the Assembly.[4]:966 Thus, the First Legislative Assembly was formed without an election. Elections for the assembly have been held since 1964.

Name[]

Puducherry has 5 official languages, namely, French,[note 1] Tamil; Telugu (in Yanam), Malayalam (in Mahe) and English.[5] In each of these languages, the Legislative Assembly is referred as below

  1. French: Assemblée législative de Pondichéry
  2. Tamil: புதுச்சேரி சட்டப்பேரவை (IAST:putucceri cattapperavai)
  3. Telugu: పుదుచ్చేరి శాసనసభ (IAST:puducceri śāsanasabha)
  4. Malayalam: പുതുച്ചേരി നിയമസഭ (IAST:puducceri niyamasabha)
  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[]

Constituency map

The structure of the Puducherry Legislature is unicameral. The Legislative Assembly consists of 33 members. People directly elect 30 Members of the Legislative Assembly on the basis of adult franchise.

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.[6] On 4 January 2008, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) decided to implement the order from the Delimitation Commission.[7] In addition, three members can be nominated to the assembly by the central government.[8]

After 1963 Delimitation[]

As per The Union Territories Act, 1963, thirty members would be elected through direct suffrage.[9][10] Before the Elections to constitute the First Pondicherry Legislative Assembly were held in August 1964, the constituencies were delimited by the Delimitation Commission (as per Delimitation Commission Act, 1962) 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,[10] four in Pondicherry region and one in Karaikal region.[4]:965

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 (SC), Nettapakkam, Kuruvinatham, Bahour (SC), Thirubuvanai (SC), Mannadipeth, Ossudu (SC), 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 (SC).

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.[6] The area under Karaikal district forms 5 assembly constituencies, viz Nedungadu, Thirunallar, Karaikal North, Karaikal South and Neravy T R Pattinam.[6] 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.[6]

The constituencies of Thirubuvanai, Ossudu, Embalam, Nettapakkam and Nedungadu are reserved for candidates from SC.[6]

Membership by party[]

Members of Puducherry assembly by their political party (As on 04.08.2021) :

Alliance Party MLAs
NDA (25) AINRC 10
BJP 9
IND 6
UPA (8) DMK 6
INC 2


Current MLAs[]

Sl. Constituency Elected MLA Party Alliance Remarks
Puducherry District
1 Mannadipet A. Namassivayam Bharatiya Janata Party NDA
2 Thirubuvanai P Angalane Independent politician NDA
3 Ossudu A.K. Sai J Saravanan Kumar Bharatiya Janata Party NDA
4 Mangalam C. Djeacoumar All India N.R. Congress NDA
5 Villianur R. Siva Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam UPA
6 Ozhukarai M.Sivasankar Independent politician NDA
7 Kadirkamam S. Ramesh All India N.R. Congress NDA
8 Indira Nagar V. Aroumougam A. K. D. All India N.R. Congress NDA
9 Thattanchavady N. Rangaswamy All India N.R. Congress NDA
10 Kamaraj Nagar A. Johnkumar Bharatiya Janata Party NDA
11 Lawspet M. Vaithianathan Indian National Congress UPA
12 Kalapet P.M.L. Kalyanasundaram Bharatiya Janata Party NDA
13 Muthialpet J. Prakash Kumar Independent politician NDA
14 Raj Bhavan K. Lakshminarayanan All India N.R. Congress NDA
15 Oupalam Anibal Kennedy Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam UPA
16 Orleampeth G. Nehru Independent politician NDA
17 Nellithope Richards Johnkumar Bharatiya Janata Party NDA
18 Mudaliarpet L Sambath Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam UPA
19 Ariankuppam R. Baskar All India N.R. Congress NDA
20 Manavely Embalam R. Selvam Bharatiya Janata Party NDA
21 Embalam U Lakshmikandhan All India N.R. Congress NDA
22 Nettapakkam P. Rajavelu All India N.R. Congress NDA
23 Bahour R Senthilkumar Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam UPA
Karaikal District
24 Nedungadu Chandira Priyanga All India N.R. Congress NDA
25 Thirunallar P.R Siva Independent politician NDA
26 Karaikal North P. R. N. Thirumurugan All India N.R. Congress NDA
27 Karaikal South A.M.H. Nazeem Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam UPA
28 Neravy T R Pattinam M Nagathiyagarajan Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam UPA
Mahe District
29 Mahe Ramesh Parambath Indian National Congress UPA
Yanam District
30 Yanam Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok Independent politician NDA
Nominated
31 Nominated R.B. Ashok Babu Bharatiya Janata Party NDA
32 K. Venkatesan Bharatiya Janata Party NDA
33 V.P. Ramalingam Bharatiya Janata Party NDA

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Article XXVIII of Treaty de Cession (1956)

References[]

  1. ^ "Les établissements français en Inde au XIXe siècle, 1816–1914 (4)". Jacques Weber. FeniXX. 1988.
  2. ^ "Treaty establishing De Jure Cession of French Establishments in India". Ministry of External Affairs. Media Center (Government of India). 1956.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Government of Union Territories Act, 1963" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Cabinet Responsibility to Legislature". G.C.Malhotra. Metropolitan Book Co. Pvt. Ltd. 1964. p. 464.
  5. ^ "Archived copy of The Official Languages Act 1965". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies in the UT of Pondicherry on the basis of 2001 Census" (PDF). Election Commission of India. 30 March 2005. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  7. ^ Sunil Gatade (2008). "Delimitation process now gets CCPA nod".
  8. ^ https://www.deccanherald.com/national/centre-empowered-nominate-3-706779.html
  9. ^ Grover, Verinder, and Ranjana Arora. Encyclopaedia of India and Her States. Vol. 10. New Delhi [India]: Deep & Deep, 1996. p. 11
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1964 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF PONDICHERRY Archived 27 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine

External links[]

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