BJP & PMK's Anbumani Ramadoss sign seat sharing agreement for Lok Sabha election

"There is a hatred for the parties which ruled Tamil Nadu for the past 60 years. The people are eagerly awaiting a change in the State. To fulfil that wish of the people, the PMK has taken this decision to align with the NDA." said PMK President Anbumani Ramadoss

"The PMK has been in alliance with both Dravidian parties in the past and very recently, the PMK was in alliance with the AIADMK in the 2021 Assembly elections," he added.

PMK contested 23 seats in the AIADMK alliance in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election and won five seats by securing 4.04 per cent.

During the 2019 general elections, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Secular Progressive Alliance, which comprised INC, VCK, MDMK, CPI, CPI(M), IUML, MMK, KMDK, TVK, AIFB, registered a landslide victory by winning 38 of the 39 seats.

In 2019, the DMK won 23 Lok Sabha seats with 33.2 per cent vote share, Congress bagged 8 seats with 12.9 per cent vote and CPI won 2 seats in Tamil Nadu. CPI(M) got a seat, IML won 1 seat and independents were elected on 2 seats.

The PMK, a political party that mostly represents the Vanniyar minority in Tamil Nadu, was the second main alliance partner of the BJP in the Lok Sabha election 2019, which contested on seven alliance seats. With a vote percentage of 5.42 per cent, it was unable to secure even one seat in the polls.

The PMK had a slight increase in vote share to 5.42 per cent over seven seats in 2014, up from 4.4 per cent for eight seats. Anbumani Ramadoss is currently a Rajya Sabha member having being elected unopposed in 2019.

Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai and the PMK president will be meeting at PMK founder Ramadoss' house on Tuesday to decide on the contours of the seat-sharing agreement, party sources said. Following this, PMK leaders are expected to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public meeting at Salem.

The names of the PMK candidates will then be announced by PMK founder Ramadoss on Wednesday.

"PMK decided to ally with the BJP. Regarding constituencies and candidates, PMK founder Ramadoss will make an announcement the day after tomorrow," PMK General Secretary Vadivel Ravanan said.

The BJP is without a major alliance partner in Tamil Nadu and PM Modi has already made five visits to Tamil Nadu this year ahead of the Lok Sabha election. The state will see voting on all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Phase 1 on April 19.

The Election Commission on March 16 announced the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The polling will be conducted in seven phases across the nation from April 19 to June 1. Votes will be counted on June 4. (ANI)