Chennai: Already moving under top gear in preparing for the Lok Sabha polls, the ruling DMK, heading the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in Tamil Nadu by keeping its flocks together, on Monday completed the seat sharing process with all its allies and identification of Constituencies to be contested by them in the April 19 Lok Sabha polls.
Elections will be held for 40 seats next month–39 in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in the
Union Territory of Puducherry.
After allotting seats to its allies, the DMK will be contesting in 21 seats in this polls, one
more than in 2019 polls, as its former ally IJK, which had won from Perambalur, has quit
the Front and allied with the BJP this time.
After having clinched the seat sharing pact with its partners and also identifying the seats to be contested by some of its allies earlier, the DMK today afternoon inked pacts with the Congress and the MDMK, identifying the list of Constituencies to be contested by them.
As per the seat sharing agreement signed earlier, the Congress was allotted 10 seats–nine in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry–and the MDMK was given one seat.
Today the Constituencies were identified and an agreement in this regard was signed with DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin by TNCC President K.Selvaperunthagai and MDMK General Secretary Vaiko, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, respectively at DMK Headquarters ‘Anna Arivalayam’.
Senior Congress leaders from Delhi were present on the occasion.
With the candidates too more or less finalised, leaders of the DMK-led Front, which is looking for an encore of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll show in which it won 39 of the 40 seats–losing only the Theni Parliamentary seat contested by the Congress to the Opposition AIADMK, is all now set for undertaking a whirlwind campaigning tour of the state to seek votes for their candidates.
As per the agreement, the Congress was allotted almost the same seats it had contested in 2019, but for some changes in three Constituencies.
The seats allotted to the Congress were Tiruvallur (Reserved), Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Sivagangai, Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar, Kanniyakumari, Krishnagiri and Karur, besides the
Puducherry seat.
Last time the Congress contested from Arani, Theni and Trichy and this time, they were changed and instead allotted Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai and Tirunelveli.
The MDMK, which won from Erode seat in 2019, has been allotted Trichy seat. The 21 seats to be contested by DMK included all the three Parlaimentary Constituencies in Chennai, which were considered as the DMK’s bastions, the Central, North and South Chennai seats, besides Sriperumbudur, Kancheepuram (R), Arakkonam, Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Arani, Kallakurichi, Salem, Erode, The Nilgiris (R),
Pollachi, Perambalur, Thanjavur, Theni, Thoothukudi and Tenkasi (R).
DMK sources said majority of the sitting MPS are the forerunners among the candidates and are likely to be given tickets this time also for their re-election.
Earlier, the DMK has allotted the same seats represented by its allies in the last elections. VCK was given the two Reserved seats of Villupuram and Chidambaram, Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi was allotted Namakkal (will contest under DMK’s ‘Rising Sun’ symbol like in 2019), IUML got Ramanathapuram, CPI(M) allotted Madurai and Dindugul and the CPI got Nagapattinam and Tiruppur.
The DMK-Led Front had won the last five successive elections starting from 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the 2021 Assembly polls, Urban and Rural Local Body polls, Erode Assembly by-poll and is keen to make a mark eyeing to win a sixth straight election this time to prove it as an undisputed force at the hustings.
