Tamil Nadu elections: Vijayakant’s party allies with TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK, to contest 60 seats
On March 9, the DMDK had quit the alliance with the AIADMK and the BJP, citing non-allocation of expected seats as the reason for its exit.
The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, led by actor-turned-politician Vijayakant, on Sunday finalised seat-sharing agreement with TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam for the April 6 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, reported PTI. The DMDK had on March 9 quit the alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
As part of the agreement with the AMMK, Vijayakant’s party has been allotted 60 seats. It will contest from segments such as Villivakkam, Egmore (Reserved) and Sozhinganallur and other constituencies in several parts of the state.
Vijayakant is not contesting the elections, reported The Hindu. DMDK treasurer and the party chief’s wife Premalatha Vijayakant will contest from Virudhachalam Assembly constituency. Party’s Deputy Secretary and former MLA P Parthasarathy will fight from Virugambakkam.
In a statement, Dhinakaran said that the candidates announced by his party for segments now earmarked for the DMDK would be withdrawn. “I assure that those candidates, whose candidature have been withdrawn, would be given opportunities at the right time in the future,” he said. The AMMK general secretary said that the decision was taken keeping victory in mind and hoped that his party members would understand.
The AMMK has earlier allotted six seats to the Social Democratic Party of India and three to Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.
The DMDK had cited the non-allocation of expected seats and constituencies as the reason for its exit from the AIADMK-led alliance. “In the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections 2021, DMDK held talks with AIADMK in three sittings,” Vijayakant had said in a statement. “So as the negotiations did not reach a desired conclusion and since all of DMDK district secretaries reached a decision, DMDK has decided to quit AIADMK and DMDK alliance from March 9.”
So far, the AIADMK has allotted 23 seats to the Pattali Makkal Katchi and 20 seats to the BJP. The AIADMK’s main rival in the state, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, has allotted 25 seats to ally Congress and six seats to the Communist Party of India.
Elections to the 234-seat Tamil Nadu Assembly and the bye-poll to Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat will be held in a single phase on April 6. The results will be announced on May 2.