DMK seals electoral pact with Congress, to contest 20 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu

The DMK has finalised the pre-poll alliance with the Congress and several other regional parties, including the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M), the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK) — in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. As per the electoral pact reached by the parties, the DMK will contest 20 seats, whereas the Congress will fight on just 9 seats. The remaining 10 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats have been given to other smaller allies. The Congress has also been given the only seat in the union territory of Puducherry.

“We have allocated 10 seats to our alliance partner Congress and other 10 have been given to our other alliance partners. DMK will contest on the remaining 20 seats. On 7th March, we will begin the identification of the seats for both DMK & alliance partners,” ANI quoted DMK President MK Stalin told reporters on Tuesday.

DMK President MK Stalin: We have allocated 10 seats to our alliance partner Congress & other 10 have been given to our other alliance partners. DMK will contest on the remaining 20 seats.On 7th March, we will begin the identification of the seats for both DMK & alliance partners. pic.twitter.com/bZTiHMBEWR

— ANI (@ANI) March 5, 2019

The smaller allies - the CPI, the CPI-M and the VCK would contest two seats each in Tamil Nadu, while one seat each has been given to the MDMK, IUML, IJK and KMDK. The MDMK has also been given one Rajya Sabha seat. The DMK president has already extended his support to Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the Opposition’s candidate for the prime ministerial post.

Earlier, the ruling AIADMk had finalised the alliance with the BJP for the coming Lok Sabha polls. As per the pact, the BJP will contest five seats in Tamil Nadu, while the remaining seats will go the AIADMK. The BJP will also extend its support to the AIADMK for the bypolls on 21 Assembly seats, which fall vacant after the disqualification of the rebel AIADMK MLAs.