The agreement was finalised at Anna Arivalayam following multiple rounds of negotiations between DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin and CPM state secretary P Shanmugam.

Addressing reporters, Shanmugam said the party was not satisfied with the number of seats, pointing out that the CPM had contested six constituencies in the 2021 Assembly election.

He said the party had expected to win more seats than in 2021, but added that remaining in the alliance was equally important. The CPM would continue in the alliance and work for its victory, he said.

Shanmugam also noted that Stalin personally intervened twice during the discussions and explained the constraints in allocating additional seats.

He reiterated that the party would neither support the AIADMK-BJP alliance nor weaken the unity of the Secular Progressive Alliance. Though not fully satisfied, the CPM had accepted five seats, he said.

Earlier in the day, Shanmugam, along with CPM politburo member K Balakrishnan, met Stalin at his residence before finalising the agreement.
With this, seat-sharing arrangements with the Left parties, including the CPI and CPM, have been completed.

Meanwhile, the DMK has invited the DMDK and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) for seat-sharing talks on Tuesday. Both parties held internal meetings on Monday to decide their next course of action.

Sources indicated that the DMK has offered five to six seats each to the DMDK and VCK. The DMDK is likely to accept the offer, particularly in view of an earlier understanding regarding a Rajya Sabha seat.

However, the VCK is yet to take a final call and is expected to decide after further consultations.

With most alliance arrangements nearing completion, the DMK is expected to finalise the remaining agreements soon and proceed with announcing candidates and its election manifesto.