In Tamil Nadu, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (AIADMK) seat-sharing technique with its allies, including the BJP, shows that it has managed to outwit all its allies on the choice of constituencies as well as the number of constituencies allocated.

The party has allotted 27 seats to the BJP, 18 to Anbumani Ramadoss’ Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), and 11 to T.T.V. Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK). Four parties are contesting on the BJP’s lotus symbol; of them, Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) has been given five seats, the IJK two, and two smaller parties one each.

The BJP’s leaders in the State were in for a shock when they realised that only one of the 25 seats that constitute the Chennai urban agglomeration was given to the party. They expected at least three, namely Mylapore, Velachery, and Harbour. Instead, the party got only Mylapore. The BJP recorded decent growth in the city in 2024 when it contested on its own. Former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan is a front-runner for the seat. There are many other, younger contenders too.

In western Tamil Nadu, known as the “kongu belt”, where the BJP fancies its chances, it has got only one seat in the city of Coimbatore and only five seats in the entire western region. The BJP has also been allotted some of the seats where the DMK has not lost in the recent past, such as Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Tiruchendur, Tirupathur, Tiruvannamalai, and Avadi.

“Of the 27 constituencies that the BJP is contesting, the party stands a good chance in 12,” said a party insider, who did not want to be named.

The AIADMK will also contest the Tirunelveli seat, which BJP state president Nainar Nagendran won in the 2021 Assembly election. While Nagendran had expressed his desire to move out from this constituency to Sattur, it was expected that the Tirunelveli constituency would be retained by the BJP.

Few dissenters

Only one constituent political party spoke up today after the seats were decided. Poovai Jagan Murthy, leader of the Puratchi Bharatam Katchi, said: “What we expected was something else; what we got was completely different. Our party’s executive committee will meet and decide on the future course of action.”

His party was allotted one seat, namely K.V. Kuppam. His party wanted to contest four seats. However, Jagan Murthy does not have much of a choice. With the DMK front facing serious issues in allocation of seats, he will be forced to mark his protest and hope that the BJP and AIADMK support his candidature with resources.

Meanwhile, much drama preceded the AIADMK’s release of its first list of candidates. “All the party seniors were invited, and then their phones were taken away and they were ushered in,” said a politician who was present at the meeting.

This was a first in the party after Edappadi K. Palaniswami took over as AIADMK general secretary. Palaniswami announced the first list of 23 names at that meeting. Before anyone else present there could convey anything to the outside world, a press release went out from Palaniswami, which conveyed the decision in one shot to the world.

For the eighth time, former Minister D. Jayakumar will again contest the Royapuram constituency. Jayakumar, whose name featured in the first list of AIADMK candidates, said: "For 25 years I have been selected and people have sent me to the Assembly. Again, I will win with a thumping majority. I have handled as many as 15 portfolios, including that of the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.”

While Palaniswami, who is also a former Chief Minister, will fight from his home constituency of Edappadi, the party’s senior leader and party deputy general secretary, K.P. Munusamy, will contest Veppanahalli, while another senior leader and party treasurer, Dindigul C. Srinivasan, will contest from Dindigul. S.P. Velumani (Thondamuthur), P. Thangamani (Kumarapalayam), and R. Viswanathan (Natham) have got the constituencies that each one of them had worked on for several years now. The list is a remarkable statement of how Palaniswami works: everyone who did not dissent has not been disturbed.

Surprising exclusion

The surprising exclusion from the first list are the names of P. Dhanapal, former Assembly Speaker, and former Ministers Pollachi Jayaraman and Udumalai Radhakrishnan. All hail from the kongu belt, the same region of influence as that of Palaniswami. Dhanapal, who was made Speaker by former AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa to ensure the dignity of a marginalised caste in the State, is the most popular politician from the Arundathiyar community.

It is perplexing that a constituency that Dhanapal could easily win (the Avinashi reserved constituency) has been given to the BJP. A source said that this was because the BJP was keen to move Union Minister of State L. Murugan to State politics and also because he was keen on contesting it. The AIADMK has also given up the Manamadurai (reserved) seat, where it had won on several occasions.

A senior AIADMK leader said that there were a few compromises that the AIADMK made to placate the BJP. “Our leader was very firm with the BJP. He basically handed them a list and told them that it was his responsibility to see the alliance over the finish line. The BJP had a few demands which Edappadi accommodated,” he added.

The AIADMK believes that it has done right by its allies. But not all allies agree.

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