Chennai, March 25: Ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the NDA coalition, led by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), has allocated five seats to the Tamil Manila Congress (Mupanar).
This agreement was finalized in the presence of Piyush Goyal, the BJP in-charge for Tamil Nadu, putting an end to the uncertainty surrounding seat distribution.
Under the agreement, the Tamil Manila Congress will contest from the Ottanchathiram, Erode West, Ranipet, Kiliyoor, and Kumbakonam constituencies. Notably, the party will contest under the BJP’s ‘Lotus’ symbol instead of its traditional ‘Bicycle’ symbol.
Party president K.G. Vasan explained that this decision was made due to difficulties in obtaining approval for their symbol under the Election Commission’s rules. He stated that the party will contest all five seats using the ‘Lotus’ symbol, as it was not feasible to run under the ‘Bicycle’ symbol given the current circumstances.
The seat allocation was reached after some disagreements among the coalition partners. Initially, the Tamil Manila Congress had demanded five seats, while the AIADMK proposed three. However, negotiations were positive, and ultimately, the party received all five seats as requested.
The NDA in Tamil Nadu, led by the AIADMK, includes several regional parties such as the BJP, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK).
The process of seat allocation within the coalition is nearly complete, with the BJP already receiving 27 seats and AMMK 18 seats.
With the seat distribution finalized, the AIADMK-led coalition will now focus entirely on election campaigning and candidate announcements, making the competition in the state more intriguing.