Cong hopes to form Govt in Pondicherry

New Delhi,Apr 13(UNI)The Congress is likely to finalise by tonight the names of its candidates for the 16 seats it is contesting out of the total 30 seats going to the Asssembly elections in Pondicherry.

The party has already cleared the names of 14 candidates with two names yet to be decided,AICC General Secretary Incharge of Pondicherry B.K.Hari Prasad told UNI,adding the final list of Congress candidates will be released tomorrow.

In the Congress-led alliance,consisting of DMK,PMK and CPI,the DMK is contesting 11 seats,PMK 2 seats and CPI 1 seat.

Mr Hari Prasad expressed the hope that the Congress-led alliance would return to power as the Congress is in an invincible position in nine seats while the DMK is strongly placed in 6 seats.The alliance needs to get 16 seats to be able to form a Government.

There was no anti-incumbency factor against the ruling alliance mainly because of the popularity of Chief Minister Rangaswamy,he said.

According to Mr Prasad,Congress President Sonia Gandhi will address a public meeting in Pondicherry while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend a meeting at Karaikal.Their programmes are being chalked sout.

Pondicherry Assembly elections are to be held in two phases on May 3 and May 8,with the last day of filing nomination being April 20.

UNI YS RP PM1954