Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | AIADMK constitutes committee to hold seat-sharing with allies

Chennai: The AIADMK on Sunday (March 15) constituted a four-member committee with senior leaders as it members to hold seat-sharing negotiations with alliance partners, including the BJP and PMK.

The party also reconstituted its governing council under its general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami by giving representation to major communities. 

Senior leaders K P Munusamy, Dindigul C Sreenivasan,  S P Velumani, and B Valarmathi will be members of the committee to discuss seat-sharing, Palaniswami said in a statement. 

The BJP, which is planning to drive a hard bargain based on its 2024 Lok Sabha election performance of 11 per cent votes, is believed to have sought about 50 seats for the party, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) of T T V Dhinakaran, and a couple of other parties that have been part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for some time.  

“The Central leadership wants about 35 seats for the BJP and another 15 seats to be distributed among parties like the AMMK,” a senior BJP leader told DH. However, the AIADMK is believed to be convincing the BJP to accept 29 seats, one more than what was allotted to Congress by the DMK, and about eight seats to AMMK.

The AIADMK has already promised the PMK 17 or 18 seats  -- a Rajya Sabha seat was allotted for its president Anbumani Ramadoss. AIADMK leaders said the party wants to contest in about 170 seats at the minimum so that it can aim to win at least 118 seats, the simple majority in a house of 234.