Too little: Allies unhappy with seat-sharing formula 

Estimate shows allies getting lesser seats than Assembly, LS polls
DMK President MK Stalin interacts with Congress leader Thangabalu at the all party meet held in Chennai on Wednesday | p Jawahar
DMK President MK Stalin interacts with Congress leader Thangabalu at the all party meet held in Chennai on Wednesday | p Jawahar

CHENNAI: Cadre of small parties in DMK and AIADMK-led alliances are sulking since both the Dravidian majors have allocated a significantly less share of seats for their partners in rural local body polls. The parties were negotiating for more seats till Thursday, the last day for withdrawing nominations. 

A rough estimate shows the percentage of seats allocated to allies of both DMK and AIADMK is lesser compared to what was given for Assembly and  Lok Sabha polls. A functionary of Congress, which is an ally of DMK, said, “In the LS and Assembly polls, we were given around 20 to 25 per cent seats. But, for local body polls, we are given only about five per cent.” 

“For instance, in Tiruvallur district, we are given only one district panchayat councillor seat out of 28. The share is more or less the same in most districts, except a few.” He fears this may result in some locally influential person from Congress contesting as rebel candidate, which could be detrimental for the DMK nominee.

The situation is similar on the AIADMK front too, despite the alliance having parties like PMK and DMDK which command considerable influence in certain pockets. PMK has been allocated only one out of 17 district panchayat councillor seats in Namakkal district. According to an AIADMK release, the party has announced candidates for 80 per cent of the seats in most of the 27 districts.  

For instance, in Krishnagiri district, the ruling party announced it will contest in 21 of 23 district panchayat councillor seats. It is 10 out of 12 in Ariyalur district and 15 out of 18 in Thiruvarur district. President of one of the ally parties is said to have spoken to the Chief Minister, urging him to advise district secretaries of the ruling party to be more considerate to the demands of other parties in seat-sharing.

In the DMK camp at Usilampatti, things took an extreme turn when one Sundaramoorthy, a functionary of VCK, attempted immolation recently upset over DMK’s decision. VCK has not been allocated even a single seat out of 47 panchayat union wards under Usilampatti.

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