News Brief
Nishtha Anushree
Feb 29, 2024, 02:05 PM | Updated 02:05 PM IST
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Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Thursday (29 February) announced its decision to allot two seats each to the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] in Tamil Nadu.
Chief Minister MK Stalin's DMK leads the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), of which these Left parties are a part. Congress is another major partner in this alliance and these parties are together in the national-level INDI Alliance.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections too, the two Left parties contested two seats each, and both won both the seats. CPI (M) currently has MPs from Madurai and Coimbatore, while CPI represents Tiruppur and Nagapattinam (SC).
Earlier, the ruling DMK allotted one seat each to its allies Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Kongu Desiya Murpokku Kazhagam (KMDK) for the upcoming elections. This is also similar to the 2019 elections.
There are 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu. The 2019 elections were a landslide for DMK with SPA winning 38 seats. However, that might not be the case this time according to many opinion polls.
A recent extensive pre-election survey conducted by Tamil Nadu's popular TV channel, Puthiyathalaimurai, has projected that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could secure four to six seats in the state.
Nishtha Anushree is Senior Sub-editor at Swarajya. She tweets at @nishthaanushree.