‘DMK to contest in 175 seats in rising sun symbol’

Chennai, Mar 25:

Chief Minister and DMK president M. K. Stalin has written a detailed letter to party cadres, urging them to work unitedly with alliance partners and ensure a decisive victory in all 234 constituencies in the upcoming Assembly elections.

DMK candidates and allies contesting under the Rising Sun symbol will together fight in 175 constituencies, he said.

In his letter, Stalin said the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance has successfully completed seat-sharing talks with its allies after extensive consultations. He noted that discussions were held democratically with parties including VCK, CPI, CPI(M), MDMK and IUML, and agreements were finalised based on mutual understanding and the goal of ensuring a major victory.

He highlighted that new parties joining the alliance required equitable seat distribution, and decisions were taken after multiple rounds of talks with leaders such as Thol. Thirumavalavan and Vaiko. Stalin assured that alliance partners are treated as integral to the coalition and guaranteed full support for their success in allotted constituencies.

Welcoming actor-politician Kamal Haasan’s decision to support the alliance, Stalin said such moves reflect the strength and unity of the coalition that has been growing since 2019. He also accused opponents of spreading misinformation about seat-sharing but asserted that such attempts have failed.

The Chief Minister recalled the achievements of the DMK government over the past five years, stating that it had reversed the “decline” seen during the previous AIADMK regime and elevated Tamil Nadu’s development at the national level.

Detailing internal party processes, Stalin said interviews with over 16,500 aspirants were conducted between March 17 and 23 (excluding a Ramzan holiday), with each constituency reviewed individually. He described the exercise as a “relationship festival” between leadership and cadres, with daily sessions lasting nearly 10 hours.

He instructed cadres to work wholeheartedly regardless of candidate selection and stressed that constituencies allotted to alliance partners should also be treated as DMK’s own. “All 234 constituencies are ours,” he declared, urging workers to campaign with that spirit.

Stalin further said that in the 2026 elections, DMK candidates and allies contesting under the Rising Sun symbol will together fight in 175 constituencies. He emphasized that all alliance symbols—including hand, hammer-sickle-star, pot and ladder—should be seen as part of the same front.

Calling for relentless work over the next four weeks, he urged cadres to ignore rumours, stay focused, and ensure victory for the alliance to continue a governance model based on secularism, social justice, state rights and equality, while also safeguarding democracy in India.