Chennai, Jan 6 (IANS): Even as the INDIA bloc is facing several teething issues regarding the prominence of each party across the country, in Tamil Nadu, it is clear that MK Stalin is the boss and the ruling DMK has the final say in the seat sharing arrangements for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The DMK, which has won comfortable victories in all the polls since the 2019 General Elections in Tamil Nadu, is sitting pretty in the forthcoming 2024 General Elections as well.

Stalin’s party DMK, as the leader of the coalition in Tamil Nadu, commenced preparations for the Lok Sabha polls last year.

In February 2023, Stalin had called a meeting of DMK District Secretaries and posted full time party workers in each Assembly constituency, who were asked to appoint dedicated workers in each booth committee.

R Selvapandy, a leader of the DMK in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu, told IANS, “The DMK is all geared up and our leader Stalin has already called upon the party cadres and workers to win all the 39 seats from Tamil Nadu and the lone seat from neighbouring Puducherry which is held by the AIADMK at present.”

He said that the booth committees have been active since March 2023 and each booth incharge has to have a proper understanding of the voter list. They have to ensure that the names of new voters are added and the names of those who have passed away or have shifted residence are struck off the list, he added.

It may be recalled that in the 2019 General Elections the DMK-led front Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) contested on 21 seats, the Congress on 10 seats, the CPI(M), CPI and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) fought on two seats each while the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) contested from one seat as did the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

The DMK’s front won all seats except in Theni where the SPA’s candidate senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, EVKS Elangovan lost to AIADMK leader OP Raveendranathan, who incidentally is the son of former Chief Minister and senior AIADMK leader, O Panneerselvam.

With the DMK ruling Tamil Nadu and having a grass root network in all the Assembly constituencies, the partners of the INDIA front including the Congress, CPI(M), CPI, VCK, MDMK and the IUML have to toe the line taken by Stalin’s party as it is the big brother in the alliance.

In Tamil Nadu’s politics, the parties with strong Dravidian roots will have the say in a coalition and national parties will have to ride piggyback. This is exactly what the Congress and BJP did in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when they depended on their coalition partners the DMK and AIADMK respectively.

A senior Congress leader from Salem told IANS, “The Congress won nine seats in the last Lok Sabha elections due to the DMK as the grand old party does not have the organisational capability or the base to win seats on its own in the state. The ten seats being given by the DMK are the maximum we can get and I can vouch that it is only due to the generosity of the Dravidian major that we are getting these many seats to contest.”

Senior DMK leader S Durai Murugan told IANS, "There are no issues in seat sharing in the front in Tamil Nadu. Our leader, Thiru MK Stalin will have the final say and the DMK is a political party which always respects coalition dharma and knows how the alliance works. There won’t be any issues in Tamil Nadu as far as seat sharing for the General Elections is concerned.”

He also said that it would be an easy win for the DMK given the popularity of Stalin and the several welfare schemes that the state government has implemented since it has assumed power.

With the INDIA bloc having Muslim, Dalit and workers’ representation in the IUML, VCK and the Communist parties in Tamil Nadu, it is a formidable electoral combination representing all social and religious communities.

RK Raghavan, Director, Institute of Social and Political Research, Coimbatore told IANS, “On close observation, the INDIA bloc is a clear social combination as it has representations from all sections of society. The seat sharing exercise is expected to culminate in an amicable manner and with the DMK calling the shots, it is certain that each of the coalition partners will contest in the same number of seats that they contested in the 2019 polls.”