For the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections 2026, on one side there is an alliance of DMK and Congress and on the other side there is an alliance of AIADMK and BJP. Both the alliances are fighting a political battle against each other to gain power in the upcoming assembly elections. There is a challenge regarding seat sharing from both the sides because 21 parties are included in the DMK alliance, while about a dozen parties are also joining the AIADMK alliance and contesting the elections. Both the factions of the state have geared up to build strength among the people on the ground.
Chief Minister MK Stalin is exploring all possibilities to come to power, he is putting his plans on the ground considering the time. The most important link in this is ticket distribution. In a situation where the formalities of the alliance between DMK-Congress for the state elections have been completed. Seat sharing has been finalized after a phone conversation between Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Chief Minister Stalin. However, final talks are going on regarding ticket distribution in BJP Plus alliance also.
Let us know that when the DMK-Congress seats in Tamil Nadu have been finalized, what is happening in the meantime regarding seat sharing between AIADMK and BJP…
Talks between DMK and Congress
On the occasion of Holi, there was a phone conversation between Mallikarjun Kharge and MK Stalin. This information came to light. During this time there was a discussion between the two on seat sharing. Talks were already going on regarding seat sharing in the state. DMK has promised to give one Rajya Sabha seat along with 28 assembly seats to Congress. There are a total of 234 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu. Out of this, DMK gave 25 assembly seats and one Rajya Sabha seat to Congress. Actually, Congress was demanding the first 30 seats in the state from DMK, but the ruling party refused. After this, after several rounds of talks, Congress was adamant on contesting on 30 seats.
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After this, DMK made a final offer of 25 seats and one Rajya Sabha seat to Congress, which was rejected by Congress. At last it seemed as if the alliance between Congress-DMK would break. In such a situation, the Congress high command had entrusted the responsibility to former Union Minister and senior leader P Chidambaram to solve the seat sharing formula with DMK. He coordinated by meeting with the top leadership of DMK. In the end, Congress President Kharge himself found a middle path by talking to Stalin and finalized the seat sharing.
This time too Congress will get 25 seats.
In fact, in the last elections also DMK had given 25 seats to Congress. 18 out of 25 Congress MLAs had reached the Assembly after winning. Considering the performance last time, this time there was a demand for 2 Rajya Sabha seats along with 35 assembly seats. In such a situation, DMK had clearly told Congress that it cannot give more than 25 assembly and one Rajya Sabha seat.
Let us tell you that under the leadership of Stalin, his party DMK has formed a huge alliance. The name of the alliance is Secular Progressive Alliance, which includes a total of 21 parties. Congress is also a partner in this. DMK is giving share in 234 assembly seats of the state to these allies. CM Stalin has given seats to many of these parties to contest and by keeping many parties in alliance, it will increase the support base in every corner of the state. It has been decided in this alliance that those who did not get seats in the elections will be given a share in the commissions if the government is formed later.
Pressure to finalize seat in NDA
After the seat sharing between DMK and Congress, the pressure has increased in the AIADMK and BJP alliance i.e. NDA to clarify the situation regarding seat sharing.
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In fact, AIADMK-BJP had announced their alliance a year ago, but there is still a deadlock between the two parties over formal seat-sharing talks for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. There is a tussle between AIADMK and BJP over who will lead the seat-sharing talks in NDA? In the same alliance, talks with smaller allies like Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) and Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) included in the NDA are also not working out on seat sharing.
Seat sharing negotiation a challenge
Seat sharing talks regarding certain assembly seats in the state remain a challenge. Because of this, there is a delay in taking a decision on the number of seats for BJP. Earlier, the AIADMK and BJP seemed keen on including actor-turned-politician Vijay’s party Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam into the NDA. However, he could not join NDA after Vijay’s lukewarm response.
BJP has made party leader and Union Minister Piyush Goyal in-charge of elections for Tamil Nadu. Goyal was continuously talking about seat sharing with AIADMK President Edappadi Palanisamy. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also met Palanisamy, but the talks yielded no results.
Where are the talks stuck in NDA?
At present, the seat sharing talks in Tamil Nadu NDA are stalled as BJP is demanding to contest more seats than in the first elections. BJP wants to expand its presence beyond its limited presence in Tamil Nadu, but AIADMK does not want to give up its Dravidian base. Palanisamy’s party is planning to contest more than 170 of the 234 assembly seats.
However, BJP is demanding more than 35 seats. In the last 2021 elections, AIADMK had given 20 seats to BJP, out of which it won only 4 seats. BJP could not win a single seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but its vote share in the state was 11%. BJP is demanding 35 seats based on this vote share. AIADMK also did not get a single seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but its vote share was 21%. In such a situation, AIADMK does not want to give more than 25 seats to BJP for the upcoming elections. Similarly, TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK is expected to get 6-10 seats and PMK about 20-23 seats.
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