AMN /
The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu has announced candidates for 227 Assembly constituencies out of the 234 seats. For the May 16 election, the party has given seven seats to six of its alliance partners.
Chief minister and the party chief J. Jayalalithaa will contest in RK Nagar constituency in Chennai where she got elected in the last by-election.
A statement released by Ms Jayalalithaa says the party would contest in all the 30 constituencies in Puducherry by going alone in the Union Territory.
It will also try its luck in Kerala where it has fielded its candidates in seven seats.
Meanwhile the alliance partners DMK and Congress today reached an agreement over seat sharing. As per the agreement signed by the DMK chief M.Karunanidhi and Congress senior leader Gulam Nabi Azad in Chennai, the Congress would be contesting in 41 constituencies.
While addressing media persons after signing the deal, Mr Azad expressed confidence that the DMK would form the next government in Tamil Nadu.
The DMK has allotted 13 seats to five other allies of the party, leaving 180 seats for it to contest in the election for the 234 seat Assembly.
In the 2011 Assembly election, the Congress contested in 63 seats in the DMK’s company and managed to win 5 seats.
However, the Congress suffered a split with former union minister GK Vasan reviving the Tamil Maanila Congress in November last year.
A conclusion on the 41 seats for Congress has been arrived at after hectic negotiations behind the screen for the past few days. The DMK treasurer MK Stalin has said, further talks on identifying specific constituencies for the alliance partner would begin Monday evening, which again is considered to be an arduous task.