The Tamil Nadu Congress party is anticipating that the DMK might replace three of the constituencies allotted to the party in 2019 Lok Sabha elections — Arani, Tiruchi and Theni — with three others — Cuddalore, Tirunelveli and Mayiladuthurai — in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, according to sources.
The DMK has already agreed to part with 9 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the lone Lok Sabha seat in Puducherry. During the discussions, DMK’s insistence on changing a few of Congress’ sitting seats won in 2019 elections, led to a disagreement between the parties.
While the Congress candidate E.V.K.S. Elangovan lost the Theni Parliamentary constituency to O. P. Raveendranath, son of former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, the Tiruchi and Arani Lok Sabha constituencies were won by Su. Thirunavukarasar and M.K. Vishnu Prasad respectively.
Congress sources in Tamil Nadu said they were hoping that the other Parliamentary constituencies in which the party had won in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, would be allotted to the party by its senior alliance partner, the DMK.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai is likely to announce the seat-sharing agreement on March 14. Asked if the party will field new candidates from the State such as All India Professionals Congress’ chairman Praveen Chakravarthy and former IAS officer-turned Congress politician Sasikanth Senthil, a senior Congress leader said that the candidates would be decided by the Central Election Committee of the All India Congress Committee as usual.
