AIADMK Hones Alliance Game: 19 Seats Shared in Southern Tamil Nadu
AIADMK Hones Alliance Game: 19 Seats Shared in Southern Tamil Nadu
AIADMK hands 19 southern seats to allies as BJP leads with 12; Kanniyakumari alliance seat swap signals a high-stakes NDA contest in 2026 Tamil Nadu polls.
AIADMK has allotted 19 Assembly constituencies in ten southern districts to alliance parties, with BJP emerging as the major beneficiary by contesting from 12 seats. Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) gets four, Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) two, and Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) one. In Kanniyakumari district, AIADMK handed over five of six Assembly constituencies to allies—four to BJP and one (Killiyoor) to TMC—while retaining the lone Kanniyakumari seat won by N. Dhalavai Sundaram in 2021.
The Dravidian party, heading the National Democratic Alliance, is set to contest from 39 seats out of the 58 Assembly seats in the southern districts. AIADMK retains all victorious seats from the 2021 election, totaling 12, including Sivaganga (Sivaganga), Melur, Madurai West, Thirupparankundram, Usilampatti (all Madurai), Bodinayakanur (Theni), Srivilliputtur (SC) (Virudhunagar), Kovilpatti (Thoothukudi), Kadayanallur and Alangulam (Tenkasi district), Ambasamudram (Tirunelveli) and Kanniyakumari (Kanniyakumari district).
BJP, meanwhile, would contest a range of seats across the southern belt: Tirupattur and Manamadurai (SC) in Sivaganga district, Madurai South (Madurai district), Ramanathapuram, Sattur (Virudhunagar district), Tiruchendur (Thoothukudi district), Vasudevanallur (SC) (Tenkasi district), Radhapuram (Tirunelveli district), Nagercoil, Vilavancode, Colachel and Padmanabhapuram—all in Kanniyakumari district. Interestingly, Tirunelveli Assembly constituency, previously won by BJP State president Nainar Nagenthran, is not among BJP’s listed seats this time. Nagenthran is likely to contest from Sattur in Virudhunagar district.
The coalition dynamics suggest a tightly watched bid to widen the NDA footprint in Tamil Nadu, with seat-sharing shaping both strategy and local narratives ahead of the elections.
