JOIN USTamil Nadu Polls: DMK completes seat-sharing talks with allies, to contest in 180 seats
Tamil Nadu's principal Opposition party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will contest in 175 assembly constituencies in the April 6 elections, as the party completed seat-sharing talks with its major alliance partners on Monday.
The party has allotted 57 seats to its alliance members– 25 to Congress, 6 each to VCK, CPI(M), CPI, and MDMK, three to IUML, two to MMK and one each to Tamizhaga Vaazhurimai Katchi, Aadhi Tamizhar Peravai and Makkal Viduthalai Katchi. The last three parties will face the elections on DMK's “Rising Sun” symbol.
MDMK of Vaiko will contest all six seats in DMK's symbol, while MMK will contest one in the Rising Sun symbol and another in its own symbol. CPI(M) became the last major constituent of the DMK alliance after Congress which finalised its share at 25 seats on Sunday.
The DMK is adamant that it will contest in about 180 constituencies, including those contested by its allies on its symbol. The party adopted a “hard stand” with its allies while finalising the number of seats to be allotted to them. “The party did not want to take any chances because we want to have a comfortable majority in the 234-member assembly. Since we feel this our election, we told our allies that we cannot part with many seats,” a senior DMK leader told DH.
DMK, which has been out of power since 2011, feels the party will be able to put up a tough fight to the AIADMK-BJP alliance only by contesting as many seats it can. Almost all alliance partners have expressed displeasure over DMK allotting “only a few seats” to them but said they understood the senior partner's position and vowed to defeat the ruling alliance.