While the broad outlines of political alliances are in place for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, seat-sharing and constituency allocation continue to cause heartburn for parties.

Although the DMK and the Congress announced their alliance in mid-February, they only managed to finalise the seat-sharing only on Thursday – taking nearly two months to zero in on the the 41 seats of the 234-seat Assembly that the Congress will contest. The DMK, which has allocated 17 seats to small parties, will contest the remaining 176.

DMDK’s woes

Vijayakant’s DMDK, which allied with the four-party People’s Welfare Front, is torn by internal strife.

The allies announced on March 23 that Vijayakant would the bloc’s CM candidate and that his party will contest in 124 constituencies. But barely a week later, a major DMDK faction led by VC Chandrakumar, the party’s Propaganda Secretary and a close associate of Vijayakant came out in protest against the alliance. They demanded an alliance with the DMK.

Vijayakant immediately expelled all 10, including four MLAs, but internal strife has been the bane of his political career. In the 2011 elections, his party won 29 of the 45 seats it contested in alliance with the AIADMK. But nearly a third revolted, and by the end of the five-year period, they exited the party.

Amma’s word is law

The ruling AIADMK has decided to go it alone, except for tie-ups with half-a-dozen small outfits that will contest under its ‘two leaves’ symbol.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who is also AIADMK General Secretary, announced the names of 227 candidates and the constituencies they would contest. But more than a dozen candidates were replaced over the next two days. As is typical in the AIADMK, the word of ‘Amma’ is law – no questions are asked and therefore answers are not expected.

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