DMK Allots 28 Seats to Congress for Tamil Nadu Polls

In Chennai, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its key ally, the Indian National Congress, finalized a seat-sharing agreement on Wednesday for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, allotting 28 seats to the Congress along with one Rajya Sabha berth. The deal, announced at the DMK headquarters Anna Arivalayam, resolves weeks of negotiations and reaffirms the alliance ahead of the 2026 state polls.

Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin, alongside Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai and All India Congress Committee in-charge for Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar, formalized the pact in the presence of senior leaders including DMK's T.R. Baalu and Kanimozhi, as well as veteran Congress figure P. Chidambaram. The agreement comes after discussions that had stalled over the Congress's initial demand for 35 to 45 Assembly seats, with the DMK offering around 25 to 27 initially. Sources close to the talks indicated that informal meetings, including one at the wedding of Selvaperunthagai's daughter, helped bridge the gap.

Selvaperunthagai expressed optimism about the outcome, telling reporters, "Today, Congress and the DMK finalised the...