Newly elected legislators – including Chief Minister and founder of All India N.R. Congress N. Rangasamy and two Ministers who were sworn in earlier, after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) retained power in the 2026 Assembly elections held on April 9 in Puducherry – took oath as MLAs in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly on Wednesday (May 20, 2026). 

Pro-tem Speaker A. Anbalagan, belonging to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), administered the oath to the members. In the 30-member Assembly, the NDA has secured majority by winning 18 seats. While Chief Minister’s AlNRC won 12 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured four seats and the AlADMK and Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi have secured one seat each. 

Of the remaining members, five are from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), two from the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), and one from the Neyam Makkal Kazhagam (NMK). The three others are Independents.

The Chief Minister, who contested from two seats, had vacated one seat, bringing the current strength of the Assembly to 29. Out of them, 28 legislators took the oath in the Well of the House, and one of the TVK legislators, Sai J. Saravanan Kumar, who arrived later, was administered the oath by Mr. Anbalagan inside the Speaker’s chamber in the Assembly. 

A majority of the legislators took the oath in Tamil, except for Minister Malladi Krishna Rao, DMK legislator A. Senthil Kumar, and Independent legislator T. Ashok Kumar. Mr. Rao who represents Yanam, one of the enclaves of the UT situated close to Andhra Pradesh, took the oath in Telugu. The Independent legislator Mr. Kumar, who represents the enclave of Mahe situated close to Kerala, took the oath in English, though his mother tongue is Malayalam.

DMK MLA’s request to take oath in French

Meanwhile, the decision of the DMK legislator, Mr. Senthil Kumar, who represents the rural constituency of Bahour in Puducherry, to take the oath in Malayalam took everyone by surprise. His move was attributed to a recent circular issued by the CBSE to introduce the three-language formula in all its affiliated schools in the country.

A section of people and political parties in the UT are of the view that the thrust given by the CBSE to two Indian languages for school education in Puducherry would reduce the importance given traditionally to French, after the merger of the territory with the Indian Union.  

The Bahour legislator had sought permission to take oath in French but the Assembly Secretariat, citing relevant rules, directed him to take the pledge in either of the four languages (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, or English) used for Legislative business in the Assembly. 

“I wanted to bring the attention of the authorities to the importance of the French language in Puducherry by taking the pledge in that language. However, I was denied permission to take the oath in French. So, I decided to take the oath in Malayalam and bring to prominence the uniqueness of the UT in the country,” he said. 

13 new faces

Of the total members elected to the House, 13 are new faces. Two MLAs are doctors, namely K. Narayanasamy alias Nithyanandam of the AINRC representing Ozhukarai constituency and Independent V. Vigneswaran representing the reserved Nedungadu constituency.

An Independent candidate, who contested as a rebel from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), defeated the sitting MLA — the only woman member in the Puducherry Assembly — to win the Nedungadu (SC) constituency, the lone reserved seat among the five constituencies in Karaikal district, after three rounds of counting on Monday (May 4, 2026).

V. Vigneshwaran secured 14,368 votes, defeating S. Chandrapriyanga of the All India N.R. Congress, who polled 9,869 votes. The margin of victory was 4,499 votes.