MDMK joins hands with DMK, gets six assembly constituencies after agreement with MK Stalin

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) has entered into an alliance with the primary opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Elaborating on the alliance, MDMK's chief Vaiko informed on Saturday that the DMK chief MK Stalin has signed an agreement by which 6 assembly seats have been allotted to MDMK. The party will fight the upcoming elections in the state from the 6 allotted seats. 

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Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2021

Tamil Nadu will hold polls in single phase on April 6 to elect a total of 234 members to the Legislative Assembly. Ahead of the polls, the two warring factions in AIADMK - of Deputy CM O Pannerselvam (OPS) and CM E Palaniswamy (EPS), have reconciled after the party named incumbent E Palaniswamy as its CM candidate and O Panneerselvam as the chief of the 11-member steering committee. With AIADMK announcing it will continue its national alliance with BJP, the saffron party seems to be intent on minimising Sasikala's impact on its alliance. 

Meanwhile, ex-CM Karunanidhi's successor - DMK chief MK Stalin eyes his maiden CM term after sweeping the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with 38 seats. Kamal Haasan's MNM has initiated alliance talks with Arvind Kejriwal's AAP while AIMIM's Owaisi has also expressed interest to fight polls in the southern state. Erstwhile AIADMK ally Samathuva Makkal Katchi, headed by actor R Sarathkumar, joined hands with joins hands with SRM Group Paarivendhar's Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi to fight the upcoming polls.

READ: Amit Shah To Visit Poll-bound Kerala And Tamil Nadu, To Hold A Roadshow In Kanyakumari

With Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry will also have assembly elections this year. Like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry will have a single-phase poll while Assam and West Bengal Assembly election shall be conducted in three and eight phases respectively. The counting of votes for all these polls will take place on May 2.

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