Tamil Nadu: CPM, VCK seeks more seats in 2026 Assembly elections

CHENNAI: DMK allies Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) on Tuesday said that they would seek allocation of more number of Assembly seats in the ensuing State Assembly elections next year.

After launching his party’s statewide 10-day campaign to reach out to the masses here, Shanmugham said that the DMK-led alliance alone is in the position to defeat the BJP-AIADMK alliance.

“At the same time, our party has decided to contest more Assembly seats to send more elected representatives to the state assembly. Our strategy will reflect this approach,” he said.

On the DMK’s role in seat-sharing, he said, “As the leader of the alliance, it is for the DMK to consider the demands raised during negotiations and arrive at a suitable decision. We are confident that they will make a fair decision.”

He added that the decision to defeat the BJP-AIADMK alliance is of paramount importance, and so is CPM’s desire to contest in more constituencies.

On CPM’s falling vote share, Shanmugam said, “It is not fair to assess CPM’s vote base just by looking at the vote percentage in the seats we contested. For instance, we did not contest in Kanniyakumari constituency, a district where our party is strong and has a large working-class population. At one point, we had three MLAs from the district serving simultaneously.”

He further pointed out that the CPM had refrained from contesting in other worker-dominated districts such as Coimbatore and Tirupur.

“Hence, evaluating the strength of our party only based on vote share from limited constituencies in the 2021 elections does not reflect the actual support base of the CPM,” he argued.

When asked if other alliance partners would also seek more seats, he responded, “So what if they do? Every alliance party wishes to contest more seats in each election. Has anyone ever said they want to reduce their share?”

Responding to Shanmugam’s remarks, senior DMK leader and party spokesperson TKS Elangovan said that the communist party would not be able to win any seats without the alliance.

“Shanmugam has only reiterated the necessity of the alliance, and not expressed anything against the DMK,” he clarified.

Speaking to reporters at Ariyalur, VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan agreed with the CPM state secretary’s demand for allocation of the more number of assembly seats.

“We will also seek more seats from the DMK. Irrespective of the alliances, all the parties would seek allocation of more seats during the seat negotiation. However, it will be decided during the talks,” he said.