The Left parties who are in alliance with the DMK on Tuesday announced the constituencies they would be contesting for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. While the CPI will retain both the seats – Nagapattinam and Tiruppur – contested in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the CPI(M) will contest from Madurai, which it won in the 2019 election, and also Dindigul. After meeting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, CPI(M) state secretary K Balakrishnan told reporters at the DMK headquarters that after the seat-sharing agreement reached two weeks ago, the parties have been holding discussions for the past few days to zero in on the constituencies they wished to contest and it was finally finalised on Tuesday. “The DMK-led Secular Progressive Front (SPF) which is part of the INDIA alliance, has begun the election work. We have reached an agreement. We will contest from Madurai and Dindigul. Not just these two constituencies, we are confident that our alliance will emerge victorious in all 40 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,” he said. When asked about the reason behind the DMK not allocating the Coimbatore seat to CPI(M), which they had previously won in 2019, Balakrishnan said both the parties have exchanged their sitting seats through a consensus. R Mutharasan of CPI, who also met Stalin, told reporters that the INDIA alliance was formed to fight against the fascist and autocratic rule of BJP and save democracy and uphold secularism. He noted that contrary to the expectations of a few people who anticipated a split in the DMK-led alliance, hoping to gain political advantage from it, the DMK has successfully completed the seat-sharing talks with its allies in a smooth manner. The DMK-led alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls comprises Congress, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India(Marxist), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK). Actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), the latest to join the alliance, has been provided a Rajya Sabha seat and it was agreed that Haasan’s party will not contest the Lok Sabha elections but will campaign for DMK-led alliance across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. As per the seat-sharing agreement between the alliance parties, Congress will contest in 9 seats in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry, while VCK, and Left parties were allocated two seats each. The rest of the parties, including MDMK, IUML and KMDK were allotted one seat each, while the DMK will field candidates directly in 21 seats.
