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Cong releases list of 25 constituencies for TN, to face BJP in 5 seats
Chennai The Congress on Thursday announced the 25 constituencies it will contest in the April 6 Tamil Nadu elections
Chennai
The Congress on Thursday announced the 25 constituencies it will contest in the April 6 Tamil Nadu elections.
“We have received whatever we desired,” Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief KS Alagiri told reporters outside the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam headquarters in Chennai after finalizing the constituencies. The DMK and the Congress are contesting the upcoming polls in alliance.
“DMK and Congress have 108 sitting MLAs together and while we have retained most of incumbent constituencies, the rest has been shared with our allies,” a DMK leader part of the seven-member seat sharing committee said on condition of anonymity. “We are left to confirm constituencies only with CPI (M).”
The DMK was also scheduled to release its election manifesto on Thursday, but it has been delayed.
“We are likely to release the constituencies and candidates list Friday,” a senior DMK leader said on condition of anonymity. On if the DMK would have an advantage in releasing its candidates list after the AIADMK, the leader said, “Their list is irrelevant to us. We have our own way and formula of fielding candidates.”
The Congress list shows that the party will be in direct contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party in five seats-- Coimbatore South, Karaikudi, Ooty, Vilavancode, Colachel.
The two parties will also face off in the bypoll to the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant after Congress MP H Vasanthakumar died due to Covid-19 complications last year.
The BJP is contesting the upcoming elections in alliance with the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and has so far only identified the 20 constituencies it will contest on.
The AIADMK, meanwhile, has already released its list of 178 candidates for the polls. The party on Thursday signed an agreement of six seats with GK Vasan’s Tamil Maanila Congress. It also allotted seven seats to smaller parties.
In a related development, AIADMK’s Sattur MLA MSR Rajavarman quit the party on Thursday in protest against the denial of a ticket and joined the AMMK. The AMMK is now fielding Rajavarman from the constituency.
