After weeks of speculation, the Congress Party in Tamil Nadu and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) finalised the seat-sharing talks on Wednesday for the upcoming assembly election. Defying all odds, the two parties decided to contest the upcoming assembly polls together, with the Congress set to contest in 28 assembly constituencies. Besides, the party also received a Rajya Sabha berth as part of the Secular Progressive Alliance.
“For the upcoming 2026 Assembly General Elections, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President and honourable Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and – Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K. Selvaperunthagai today (04-03-2026) held discussions on constituency agreements, in which it was decided that the Congress party, which has a place in the Secular Progressive Alliance, will contest in 28 (twenty-eight) Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu and allocate one seat to the Congress party in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections,” the state unit of the Congress Party wrote on X.
The finalisation of the poll pact between the two parties came after months of uncertainty. Several top Congress leaders in the state aggressively advocated for a power-sharing deal if the alliance comes to power. Senior leader Manickam Tagore, in one of his posts on X, earlier wrote, “We will continue to fight for power-sharing, and we will get it.” This follows sustained criticism from some DMK supporters and leaders against Congress’s calls for a share of power.”
However, the DMK, which has never shared power with any of its alliance partners in its history, ruled out the Congress’s claim. The rejection created dissatisfaction among the Congress’ state brass, and it was reported that the party might seek an alliance with actor and politician Vijay’s TVK.
Recently, the Congress also asked for 45 seats to contest in the upcoming polls based on its previous performance. It said that the DMK, in the last assembly polls, contested 173 seats; however, managed to win 133 of them. The party said that it had identified at least 20 seats with winning probabilities out of those 40 seats and wanted to contest.
However, as the deal breaks out, it is evident that the party has not got the number of seats it wanted and had to be satisfied with 28 seats.
