Puducherry, May 10 (PTI): The Union Home Ministry on Monday appointed three people belonging to the Puducherry unit of theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as nominated legislators of the territorial Assembly.

K Venkatesan (former DMK legislator), V P Ramalingam (younger brother of former Speaker of Puducherry Assembly V P Sivakolundhu) and R B Ashok Babu (an advocate) are the nominated members.

The Home Ministry appointed them by using powers conferred on the Central government under the Government of Union Territories Act 1963.

A communication sent by the Home Ministry to the Chief Secretary to Puducherry government today said with the appointment of the three, the cumulative strength of the Assembly here rises to 33 and the strength of the BJP as such shoots upto nine (six elected and three nominated members). This is the second time that the Centre has appointed three BJP members as nominated legislators of the House. Election to the territorial Assembly was held on April 6. The AINRC-led NDA came out victorious in 10 segments out of 16 seats it contested while the BJP garnered six seats out of nine constituencies it contested. The AIADMK, another constituent of the NDA, however drew a blank without annexing any of the five seats it sought to capture here. On the Opposition side, the DMK emerged triumphant from six out of the 13 seats it sought to annex while the Congress which contested in 14 seats could get only two seats. There are six independent legislators elected to the House.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)