Nellithope election result 2026: DMK’s V Cartigueyane defeats Independent’s Omsakthisekar by 850 votes

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s V Cartigueyane won from Nellithope constituency in Puducherry, defeating Independent’s Omsakthisekar by a margin of 850 votes.Nellithope is one of the more densely populated constituencies in Puducherry city, with closely packed residential streets and a fairly active commercial areas. For the 9 April elections, three candidates were contesting — A Jayakumar (LJK) for the NDA, V Karthigeyan (DMK) for the SPA alliance, and S Vigneshwaran for the TVK. Notably, Karthigeyan is back on the ballot, looking to go one better than his 2021 result in a seat that has rarely stayed with one party for long.The seat has seen some back-and-forth over the years — Congress held it in 2016 and again in a by-election, before BJP's Richards Johnkumar flipped it in 2021, winning by a narrow margin of 496 votes over Karthigeyan. Over 27,000 of the constituency's 33,000 registered voters turned out that year.The voter turnout in Nellithope reached 91.24% by 7 pm on April 9. Earlier in the day, turnout stood at 16.83% at 9 am, rising to 35.36% by 11 am. It increased further to 54.52% at 1 pm, 70.81% by 3 pm, and 86.64% by 5 pm.