DMK under pressure from allies to be 'generous' in seat-sharing for 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls

Chennai: Elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly may be a year away, but the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is already facing pressure from its alliance partners to be “generous” in allotting seats to them, with CPI(M) and VCK making it clear that they want to contest more seats than were allotted to them in 2021.

The demands from the allies have come at a time when the AIADMK and BJP have finalised their alliance for the 2026 assembly polls, and newcomer politician and actor Vijay of the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) is keeping his options open, even announcing that he would not be averse to sharing power with his alliance partners.

CPI(M) state secretary P Shanmugam, who has been critical of the DMK regime on a host of issues, was the first to publicly assert that his party is certainly looking to increase its strength in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. He also urged the ruling party to be accommodative with allies by increasing their quota and adopting a magnanimous approach.

Though not as explicit as Shanmugam, VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan was categorical that his party will also seek more seats from the DMK when they sit down for seat-sharing negotiations. “Though we will decide (on the number of seats) later, we are sure to ask for more seats than we contested in 2021,” Thirumavalavan said.

Leaders of CPI(M) and VCK told DH that they accepted the offer of six seats each in 2021 since the DMK insisted that defeating the AIADMK-BJP combine was more important than the number of seats. They also said the DMK shouldn’t assume that they have no options and can be restricted to the same seats by repeating the same line of defeating the BJP alliance.

“It won’t work a second time. We want to contest a double-digit number in 2026, and we will ensure that we get at least 10 seats—the number we contested way back in the 2001 elections. DMK should understand that alliance partners can’t be taken for granted. They shouldn't use BJP as a weapon against us,” a senior VCK leader said.

In the 2021 elections, the DMK allotted about 45 seats to alliance partners while keeping about 180 for itself and also forced parties like MDMK to contest under its Rising Sun symbol.

The allies feel that the DMK shouldn’t assume they have no option but to ally with the party since the BJP is already part of the AIADMK alliance.

“Opposition to the BJP is the glue that sticks the alliance together, but that shouldn’t become the reason to restrict us to the 2021 numbers. The seat-sharing arrangement followed in 2021 should be an exception rather than the norm. Every party would want to increase its strength in the Assembly in each election,” a source in the CPI(M) said.

The allies said they shouldn’t be “punished” for taking a principled stand against the BJP and standing with the DMK for the past seven years, contesting three elections together and winning all of them.

Political analyst Maalan Narayanan told DH that the DMK is already under pressure from its allies since it will be facing the election as a ruling party, though it claims there is no visible anti-incumbency against its government.

“The challenges are multifold because we do not yet know how Vijay will perform, and the BJP continues to assert that the NDA will form a coalition government under the AIADMK’s leadership. DMK’s allies want to use this situation by demanding their pound of flesh. Every party would want to build its strength in the Assembly,” Maalan said.

He predicted that the DMK won’t react publicly to the demands of its allies so as to prevent them from exploring other options (read Vijay) and will keep postponing the decision on seat-sharing until the elections.