DMK stitches up seat-sharing pact with six regional allies, talks with Congress on

The DMK has finalised seat-sharing agreements for nine Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha seats with its regional allies, aiming to replicate the alliance’s sweeping victory in 2019 when it won 38 of the state’s 39 parliamentary constituencies. Talks with INDIA bloc partner Congress, however, are still underway with the DMK repeating its 2019 offer of nine seats. Last time, the Congress won eight constituencies.

The DMK has sealed deals with key allies, including the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a party with a significant Dalit voter base led by Thol Thirumavalavan, and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) led by veteran Tamil nationalist leader Vaiko. The M K Stalin-led party has allocated two seats each to the VCK, CPI(M), and CPI, and a seat each to the MDMK, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), and Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK). The KMDK is a smaller outfit based in western Tamil Nadu, a region considered a bastion of rival and primary Opposition AIADMK.

The VCK is set to contest the Scheduled Caste (SC)-reserved constituencies of Chidambaram and Viluppuram given they are its strongholds. In 2019, the party won both seats, with Thirumavalavan winning from Chidambaram and the party’s candidate bagging Viluppuram under the DMK symbol. This time, the negotiations were marked by intense discussions and strategic considerations, with the VCK attempting to secure a general seat. But it didn’t succeed as the DMK was apprehensive that giving in to the VCK would trigger similar demands from other allies, especially the CPI(M) and CPI which settled for two each, the same equation as in 2019.

Sources in the DMK and its allies gave an initial picture of the constituency split, which includes swapping certain