CHENNAI: Amidst ongoing seat-sharing negotiations, the DMK has announced that Chief Minister MK Stalin will launch his party’s election campaign from Thoothukudi on April 3, coinciding with Good Friday, sending a clear sign for allies to wrap up the deal quickly with the leader of the alliance.
DMK chief's Good Friday public meeting marks the formal start of the DMK’s campaign for the Assembly elections.
Party sources said the leadership is working to complete key pre-election formalities, including finalising seat-sharing arrangements and announcing the list of candidates, ahead of the campaign launch. “The seat-sharing numbers will be finalised soon. Following that, the Chief Minister will begin his campaign. The party’s election manifesto is expected to be released next week,” a source said.
Stalin is also likely to file his nomination from the Kolathur constituency on March 30, the first day of filing nominations. The party is confident that both seat-sharing agreements and allocation of constituencies to alliance partners will be completed by March 25.
Meanwhile, interviews with party aspirants are set to conclude on Monday. The leadership has advised aspirants to extend support to officially selected candidates and work towards the party’s victory even if they are not allotted tickets.
As part of its campaign strategy, the DMK has decided to deploy Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin and party deputy general secretary Kanimozhi as key campaigners, with plans to tour constituencies across the State.
The Chief Minister is also planning to hold large campaign rallies with alliance partners during the election period.
In addition, the party is preparing its list of star campaigners for submission to the Election Commission of India. Recognised political parties can nominate up to 40 star campaigners, while unrecognised parties are limited to 20. The list must be submitted within seven days of the election notification to the Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer.
The DMK is expected to finalise and submit its list within the stipulated time frame.