Tamil Nadu polls: As nomination date draws near, Dravidian majors race to clinch seat-sharing

Chennai: With merely a week to go for the filing of nominations to commence for the April 23 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the Dravidian majors have intensified the pace of seat-sharing negotiations with their respective allies.

Tamil Nadu BJP in-charge Piyush Goyal arrived here on Monday to expedite the process of talks among the constituents of the NDA, headed by the AIADMK in the state, while the ruling DMK is likely to finalise the seats with the CPI (M), DMDK and other parties in its led Secular Progressive Alliance.

The DMK's talks with the CPI (M) had hit a roadblock when the Marxist party expressed disinclination to accept five seats - one lesser than that was allotted during the 2021 Assembly election by the former, and hoped that the party would be given six seats.


The DMK has already finalised the pact with the Congress providing it 28 seats - an increase of three compared to the 2021 polls. The Thol Thirumavalavan-led VCK was being offered seven, though it anticipated a double-digit number. The CPI was given five seats and MDMK four, while smaller allies KMDK, IUML and MMK were allotted 2 seats each.

DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan has said that the party would finalise the seats with allies ahead of the deadline for filing of the nomination papers.

On March 22, the DMK leadership completed the process of interviewing over 700 candidates who expressed desire to contest on the party ticket. It would finalise its list of candidates once the seat-sharing talks are finalised with all the allies, a source in the party said.

Goyal, who arrived here on Monday said the NDA allies would finalise the seats "as one family".

"As I have already said I don't work for the deadline. I work for quality. I am quite confident that given the family relations that we have, the whole NDA will work as a family led by AIADMK's Edappadi K Palaniswami, (AMMK leader) TTV Dhinakaran, Anbumani (PMK), my party (TN) president Nainar Nagenthran and Union Minister L Murugan. We will sit and decide today (March 23)," Goyal told reporters here.

Already, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held talks with AIADMK general secretary Palaniswami, Dhinakaran and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, in the national capital last week. Goyal's visit is to finalise the seat-sharing agreement.

Single phase elections to 234 Assembly seats in the state will be held on April 23.