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Following the second round of seat-sharing talks ahead of the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections on Wednesday, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress Party agreed that Congress will contest 28 Assembly constituencies and will be allocated one seat in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
In a statement, party leaders said that the decision came following the meeting between the DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Congress Committee President K Selvaperunthagai. "With regard to the upcoming 2026 Legislative Assembly General Elections, a meeting was held today (04-03-2026) between the President of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Hon'ble Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and the President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, K. Selvaperunthagai, to discuss seat-sharing arrangements. It was decided that the Congress Party, which is part of the Secular Progressive Alliance, will contest in 28 Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu. It was also agreed that one seat will be allocated to the Congress Party in the forthcoming Rajya Sabha election," the statement read. The announcement comes after a second round of seat-sharing talks at the DMK headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, attended by the Seat Sharing Committee of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee led by AICC Election In-charge Girish Chodankar, along with senior leaders, including Congress Legislature Party Leader Rajesh Kumar and AICC Secretary Nivedit Alva. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and DMK Deputy General Secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi were also present during the discussions. The seat-sharing agreement marks a key step in consolidating the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, reflecting efforts to strengthen electoral coordination between DMK and Congress in the state. The 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly will go to the polls in the first half of 2026, where the incumbent MK Stalin-led alliance will look to project the 'Dravidian Model 2.0' for the win against the BJP-AIADMK alliance. Actor-turned-politician Vijay's entry with his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) is expected to turn the Tamil Nadu polls into a three-way contest. In the 2021 polls, the DMK won 133 seats in the 2021 Assembly polls. Congress won 18, PMK won five, VCK won four, and others won eight seats. The Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), led by DMK, which consisted of Congress, won 159 seats collectively. While the NDA won 75 seats, the AIADMK emerged as the largest party in the alliance with 66 seats. (ANI)
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