Puducherry,  Senior leader of the All India NR Congress (AINRC) and member of Puducherry legislative assembly, P. Rajavelu has filed nomination papers for the post of Deputy Speaker in the assembly.

Rajavelu, a legislator from Nettapakam (SC) reserved constituency is the candidate proposed by the AINRC-BJP combine of the NDA, the political alliance that is in power in the Union Territory.

The AINRC legislator has won from the Nettapakam(SC) reserved constituency by defeating the Congress leader, V. Vijayaveni by a margin of 6,638 votes in 2021 assembly elections.

The AINRC and its political ally, the BJP were at loggerheads over the allocation of portfolios and even after N. Rangaswamy was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the Union Territory on May 7, the cabinet expansion took place only on June 27. The Chief Minister inducted three members from AINRC and two members from the BJP into the council of ministers.

The DMK had openly come out stating that the BJP was trying to subvert the people's mandate and was trying to seize power in the state through backdoor which was vehemently denied by both the AINRC and the BJP.

Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy, his cabinet colleagues, K. Lakshminarayanan, C. Jayakumar and Chandirapriyanka were present during the occasion.