After four rounds of negotiations, the AIADMK and the BJP finalised the seat sharing agreement on Friday with the AIADMK allotting 20 seats for the BJP for the upcoming state Assembly elections. Add to this, the AIADMK offers the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha by-poll seat to the BJP. Interestingly, Congress leader Karti Chidambaram filed an application seeking a ticket for Priyanka Gandhi for the Lok Sabha seat.
In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress’ candidate H Vasanthakumar was pitted against BJP candidate Pon Radhakrishnan and the congress won. Vasanthakumar died in August 2020 and the seat has been vacant since then.
Talks between the AIADMK and the BJP went on for over a week as people aware of developments said the BJP wanted more seats in western Tamil Nadu, which may have conflicted with the AIADMK’s interests. Hence the delay in finalising the seat tally for the BJP.
Home Minister Amit Shah, during his visit to Tamil Nadu held seat-sharing discussions with chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. However, they did not arrive at a consensus on the seat allocation.
AIADMK inked a deal with the PMK on February 28 and offered 23 seats.
AIADMK and the DMDK talks over seat-sharing have hit a roadblock. The AIADMK is ready to offer 15 seats for the DMDK apart from a Rajya Sabha seat. But the DMDK wants more. Sources add that the deal between the two parties is likely to be finalised within two days.
