On 9 March, the DMK announced the allocation of 9 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat to Congress.
The seat allocation exercise that was posing a challenge to INDIA bloc parties in Tamil Nadu was finally wrapped up on Monday. While seat-sharing in terms of number of seats was settled earlier, the decision on which party would contest from which constituency posed a challenge.
The ruling party in Tamil Nadu, the DMK, and the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) jointly announced the seats from which the Congress will contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, on Monday, 18 March.
The list of seats – nine from Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry – shows Congress has retained six seats from 2019 list and three seats have even replaced.
On 9 March, following seat-sharing discussions with the Congress, the DMK announced the allocation of 9 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat to the grand old party.
The 10 constituencies allotted to the Congress are:
நாடாளுமன்ற தேர்தல் 2024!
தமிழ்நாடு காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி போட்டியிடும் 10 தொகுதிகள் விவரம்.#Election2024 pic.twitter.com/1tH9inh5YB
— DMK (@arivalayam) March 18, 2024
The list shows three constituencies – Arani, Theni and Tiruchirapalli where Congress candidates contested from in 2019 – have been replaced with Cuddalore, Tirunalveli and Mayiladuthurai.
Additionally, the DMK and the Vaiko-led MDMK also jointly announced that the alliance party would contest from the Tiruchirappalli constituency in the upcoming elections.
On 8 March, the DMK finalised seat-sharing talks with the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and allotted it one seat.
நாடாளுமன்ற தேர்தல் 2024!
தமிழ்நாட்டில் திமுக தலைமையிலான நாடாளுமன்ற தேர்தலில் மதிமுக 'திருச்சிராப்பள்ளி' தொகுதியில் போட்டியிடும்.#Election2024 pic.twitter.com/zzG4rMV1dc
— DMK (@arivalayam) March 18, 2024
With this, the DMK has announced all the constituencies allotted to members of the Secular Progressive Alliance (as called in Tamil Nadu) contesting in the 2024 general elections.
The remaining 21 constituencies from which the ruling party will contest are:
On 9 March, DMK President and Chief Minister MK Stalin and TNCC chief K Selvaperunthagai finalised the deal, in the presence of AICC leaders KC Venugopal and Ajoy Kumar.
Addressing reporters, Venugopal exuded confidence in the DMK-led combine winning all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and said the “bonding” between the Congress and the DMK “is intact”.
In January, the DMK held talks with the Congress, as part of the INDIA bloc. Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President KS Alagiri told reporters then that the talks were very satisfactory and they would soon take things forward.
On 24 February, the DMK allotted one Lok Sabha constituency each to two of its allies.
While the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) was allotted the Ramanathapuram segment in southern Tamil Nadu, the Dravidian party earmarked Namakkal constituency for the west-Tamil Nadu-based partner Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK). The KMDK candidate will contest on DMK symbol.
On 29 February, the DMK then allotted Left parties CPI and CPI(M) two seats each.
On 12 March, it announced that CPI(M) will contest from Madurai and Dindigul, and CPI from Nagapattinam and Tiruppur constituencies.
On Friday, 8 March, the DMK finalised seat-sharing talks with the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), and alloted two seats — Chidambaram and Viluppuram.
(Edited by Kamna Revanoor)