The Congress has suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat in the history of Assembly elections in Puducherry with its tally coming down from two in the last polls to one in 2026 election.

The Congress had contested 16 seats in alliance with the DMK and the VCK. Then, there were another six Congress candidates who entered the poll fray before the party leadership decided on the alliance with the DMK and the VCK. In total, there were 22 Congress candidates who were fighting the 2026 poll battle in the Union Territory. 

Out of the 22 constituencies the party had contested, it managed to secure victory only in one Assembly segment. The worst performance before this was in 2021 Assembly polls where the party could get only two of its representatives elected from the 14 seats the Congress contested in alliance with the DMK, CPI and VCK. 

The electoral performance of the party was so disastrous that in at least in seven constituencies the Congress was pushed to the third and fourth positions. The biggest electoral loss emerged from Thattanchavady constituency where the Pradesh Congress Committee chief and current Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) V. Vaithilingam was relegated to the fourth position. He was behind the candidate put up by a fledgling regional outfit Neyam Makkal Kazhagam and an Independent.

Mr. Vaithilingam could secure only 2,990 votes of the total polled votes of 23,382. Similar was the case with former Minister M.O. H. F. Shahjajan who came third at Kalapet where he contested against the candidate of Congress party’s ally, the DMK. 

Murmurs of dissent have started brewing in the party with a section of its leaders raising questions on the present leadership of the Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee. On Wednesday, a few party workers staged a protest against PCC chief V. Vaithilingam holding him accountable for the poll debacle.