CHENNAI: Eyeing to break its own five-decade old record in terms of seat tally and also factoring in the less-than-impressive record by its allies in the last Assembly election, the ruling DMK is adopting a rather uncompromising approach in seat-sharing negotiations with its partners for the upcoming polls.
According to party sources, the DMK leadership is targeting more than 200 seats in the 234-member Assembly, surpassing the party's previous best performance that was recorded in 1971, when it won 184 seats.
During the ongoing talks with various alliance leaders, senior leaders who are on the DMK's seat-sharing committee have been firm about limiting the number of constituencies allotted to their parties. However, party leaders have reportedly assured the allies that even with fewer seats, they would be able to secure victories in most constituencies.
Besides its target, the party has also looked at the performance in 2021 Assembly polls when it won three out of four seats (72.25 per cent), while the allies scored only 42.62 per cent. The DMK contested 173 seats and won 125, while its alliance partners contested 61 seats but lost 35 of those constituencies, affecting the alliance's overall tally.
"In the 2021 Assembly election, the AIADMK-led alliance won 75 seats, while the DMK-led alliance secured 159 seats. This time, the leadership is focusing on constituencies that were lost in 2021 and is determined to increase the tally beyond 200," a DMK source said.
With this in mind, the DMK is planning to reduce the number of seats allotted to allies from 61 to around 50 and contest about 185 constituencies on its own.
Understandably, some alliance leaders have expressed reservations over the reduction. "The DMK leadership says the alliance can win more than 200 seats, but it will require major adjustments from partners. It is difficult to accept fewer seats than what we contested in 2021," a leader of an alliance party said.
1967 – 168 - 138
1971 – 203 - 184
1977 – 230 - 48
1980 – 112 - 37
1984 – 112 - 24
1989 – 202 - 150
1991 – 176 - 2
1996 – 176 - 173
2001 – 167 - 31
2006 – 128 - 96
2011 – 119 - 23
2016 – 176 - 89
2021 – 173 - 133
DMK – 173 / 133 (including 8 who contested on DMK symbol)
Congress – 25 / 18
CPI – 6 / 2
CPM – 6 / 2
VCK – 6 / 4
IUML – 3 / 0
PV Kathiravan – 1/0
R Athiyaman – 1/0
SK Murugavel Rajan – 1/0
SPA candidates who contested on DMK symbol
MDMK – 6/4
ER Eswaran – 3/1
MH Jawahirullah – 2/2
T Velmurugan – 1/1