In a consolation win of sorts for the Congress, which faced defeats in Assam and Kerala, the party in alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday stormed to power in this tiny union territory, securing a simple majority of 17 in the 30-member assembly.
The Congress avenged its defeat in the 2011 elections at the hands of All India NR Congress founder N Rangasamy, who broke away from the national party to form his outfit and rode it to power, as the ruling party fell by the wayside bagging just eight seats.
The Congress which contested 21 seats won in 15 seats. The DMK emerged successful in two segments, giving the combine a clear majority as it bucked initial trends of a close fight with the AINRC when counting of the votes polled in the May 16 assembly elections was taken up.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which contested the elections on its own, won four seats.
Independent V Ramachandran, backed by the People's Welfare Alliance, defeated Congress heavyweight E Valsaraj in Mahe.
Prominent among the succesful Congress candidates are former chief minister and leader of the opposition in the outgoing assembly V Vaithilingam from Kamaraj Nagar constituency and Pradesh Congress Committee President A Namassivayam from Villianur constituency.
In Karaikal South constituency, five-time DMK MLA A M H Nazeem lost to AIADMK's K A U Asana by a slender margin of 20 votes.
Former Congress strongman P Kannan, who joined the AIADMK on the eve of the elections, lost to his protege K Lakshminarayanan in Raj Bhavan constituency.
The PWA comprising the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Communist Party of India CPI and the Revolutionary Socialist Party contested 28 constituencies but drew a blank so did the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had fielded candidates in all 30 seats.
With the Congress-DMK combine getting the majority mark, the focus will now shift to choosing the chief minister.
Though none was projected as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance, Namassivayam and Vaithilingam are front runners for the coveted post.
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