CHENNAI: Puthiya Tamilagam founder president K Krishnasamy on Friday said the party would contest the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly election independently, following consultations with its district and union-level functionaries, after talks with the AIADMK-led NDA failed.
In a statement, he said the party had identified around 120 constituencies where it has a strong presence and shortlisted 60 to 70 constituencies with favourable prospects. The list of candidates will be released on March 29 at the party headquarters in Chennai.
PT was part of the AIADMK led alliance in 2021 state assembly polls and 2019 & 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Pointing to the party’s support base among the Devendrakula Vellalar community, estimated at over 1.5 crore people, he said the party had not received due political recognition and had been sidelined in alliance discussions. In this context, the party resolved unanimously to contest the election on its own, asserting that consolidating support and strengthening its leadership would amount to a meaningful political assertion.
He said meetings and candidate interaction sessions were held on March 21 in Madurai and on March 25 and 26 in Coimbatore to deliberate on the party’s electoral strategy. More than 300 functionaries from 21 districts took part in the candidate selection interviews held on March 25 and 26.
During the discussions, functionaries expressed concern over what they described as bias in seat-sharing negotiations, stating that the party was not allotted constituencies in proportion to its strength or winnability.
He called upon party functionaries to attend the event and urged supporters to remain united.