Puducherry's first-ever assembly election produced an outright majority government, needing no coalition partners.

The Indian National Congress won 21 of the 30 seats on offer.

That cleared the 16-seat majority mark with 5 seats to spare — a supermajority.

Its nearest rival was a cluster of Independent candidates, who won just 5 seats.

This was Puducherry's first-ever election, so there were no earlier results anywhere to compare it against.

The election also produced an unopposed return — a seat where only one candidate stood, so no vote was needed to decide it.

Just 1 of the territory's 30 seats was decided that way.

A few numbers from Puducherry's first election stand out.

Even with full control of the house, the INC took just 52.1% of the vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate.

Mahe, Puducherry was decided by just 13 votes — the margin, how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second.

Pallour, Puducherry posted the best turnout of the election, at 91.2% — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot.

At the other extreme, Nettapacom, Puducherry was the widest win of the night, with the winner ahead by 67.1% of the vote.

The contest drew a wide field for a brand-new assembly, with several parties and independent candidates all competing for the available seats.