Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | AIADMK to contest 169 seats; allots 65 constituencies to allies

Retaining its supremacy in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the AIADMK on Wednesday announced it will contest 169 constituencies in the April 23 assembly elections, while allotting the remaining 65 constituencies to its allies and restricting the BJP to one seat each in Chennai, Coimbatore, and Madurai districts.

The AIADMK will contest 13 of the 16 seats in state capital Chennai having allotted only three to allies – Mylapore (BJP), Saidapet (AMMK), and Perambur (PMK), setting the stage for a direct confrontation with the ruling DMK, which won all seats in the 2021 assembly polls.

Allotting Perambur in Chennai to PMK, where the party lacks any base, is interesting as Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) president and actor Vijay is expected to enter the race from the constituency, which is a DMK bastion.

BJP, which has settled for 27 seats, has retained only eight seats that it contested in the 2021 polls even as the party has got constituencies across the state this time.

AIADMK, which forfeited deposit in Kanyakumari in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, has allotted all five of the six to its allies – BJP (4) and Tamil Maanila Congress (1), leading to criticism that the party has “gifted away” losing constituencies to alliance partners. Of the five seats that the TMC will contest, two are held by ministers and another two are traditional DMK seats.

In all, 14 constituencies currently held by DMK ministers have been allotted to alliance partners.

The BJP has been allotted Coimbatore (North) instead of its sitting seat Coimbatore (South) and was denied Singanallur, where the saffron party was contemplating to field its former state unit chief K Annamalai. Sattur in Virudhunagar district has been allotted to the BJP amid speculation that its state unit chief Nainar Nagenthiran is likely to shift there from Tirunelveli.

The party has also been allotted Thanjavur, and Thiruvarur, traditional DMK stronghold, and Aranthangi. The PMK has been allotted a majority of 18 seats from its stronghold in northern and Central Tamil Nadu, while AMMK of T T V Dhinakaran has got 11 seats spread across the state – its candidate will face DMK ministers T R B Raaja in Mannargudi, K N Nehru in Tiruchirapalli (West), and Ma Subramanian in Saidapet.

While Indhiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK) will contest from Pallavaram and Kunnam, Tamilaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) has been allotted Rajapalayam and Puratchi Bharatham K V Kuppam.