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Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Saturday chaired a meeting with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state office bearers of Puducherry ahead of the forthcoming assembly election in the Union Territory later this year.
Earlier in the day, Shah addressed a BJP public meeting in Karaikal, highlighting the performance of the NDA government in Puducherry over the past five years. He said the administration had achieved three major goals: eradicating corruption, ensuring political stability and strengthening Puducherry's autonomy. "Five years ago, the people of Puducherry formed an NDA government here under the leadership of PM Modi ji and Rangaswamy ji. And this government has accomplished three things: First, it has eradicated corruption here. Second, the previous Congress government here had turned Puducherry into an ATM for its masters in Delhi. Whereas we have worked to make Puducherry an autonomous UT. The third thing we have done is to bring political stability to Puducherry," Shah said. The Home Minister officially launched the BJP's election campaign in Karaikal with a public meeting, signalling the party's preparations ahead of the polls. Meanwhile, a seven-member team of Deputy Election Commissioners of India reviewed preparations for the upcoming Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Legislative Assembly elections on February 11. The delegation includes Deputy Election Commissioners Bhanwar Prakash, Manish Garg, Pawan Kumar Sharma, Sanjay Kumar, and Ashish Goyal, along with other senior officials. The team assessed the preparedness of the election machinery in both Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg said to reporters, "A team of officials from the Election Commission has reached Chennai and Puducherry to review the poll preparedness." This year, the union territory will hold elections for all 30 constituencies of the 16th Puducherry Legislative Assembly. While the Congress is fighting the polls in an alliance with DMK and CPI, the opposition consisted of All India NR Congress, BJP and AIADMK. In 2021, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won a simple majority in the elections and N Rangaswamy of the All India NR Congress was sworn in as the chief minister for the fourth time during that time. (ANI)
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