TN Assembly polls: Congress finalises seat sharing deal with DMK, settles for 25 seats

Chennai: Ahead of the polls in Tamil Nadu, the Congress and the DMK finalised a seat sharing deal on Sunday (March 7, 2021). Congress will get a total of 25 seats and it will contest in the bypolls for Kanyakumari Lok Sabha following the death the sitting MP of H Vasanthakumar.

The Congress wanted 45 seats, but the DMK was adamant to offer a maximum of 21, an IANS reported stated.

Meanwhile, TNCC President Alagiri told IANS: "The seat sharing between the Congress and DMK has went off smoothly. We are old allies and we have settled the matter. Of course during seat sharing, there will be certain issues and there was nothing more than that. The allegations that Congress and DMK were falling apart is totally wrong."

The deal was signed between DMK President MK Stalin and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) President KS Alagiri.

Meanwhie, on Friday the ruling AIADMK released its first list of six candidates for Assembly elections in the state. 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami will contest from Edappadi constituency in his home district of Salem, while Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam will fight from his native place Bodinayakanur in Theni district. 

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar has been fielded from Royapuram and Law minister C Ve Shanmugam will contest from Villupuram. While MLAs S P Shanmuganathan and S Thenmozhi would face the polls from Srivaigundam and Nilakottai (Reserved) segments. 

The assembly elections for 234 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu will be conducted in one phase on April 6. The counting of votes is slated for May 2.