Chennai: Seat sharing talks in the DMK front gathered pace on Monday with the ruling party holding negotiations with two of its allies, MDMK and MMK.MMK said it has sought five seats, three more than in 2021. MDMK declined to disclose the exact number of constituencies it has demanded, but confirmed that in addition to seeking more assembly seats than last time, it has also asked for a Rajya Sabha berth. After the meeting at Anna Arivalayam with the DMK panel led by senior leader T R Baalu, MDMK presidium chairman ‘Auditor’ A Arjunaraj said the party would contest the upcoming election under its own symbol. In the 2021 assembly election, MDMK contested six seats, all under DMK’s ‘rising sun’ symbol. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, however, MDMK principal secretary Durai Vaiko contested under the ‘match box’ symbol, which the party plans to retain for this year’s polls. Party leaders said details of the seat sharing arrangement would be revealed once DMK confirms the deal. MMK president M H Jawahirullah said the party has sought five seats. In 2021, MMK contested in Papanasam and Manapparai, winning both. On the question of the election symbol, he said MMK would once again contest under the DMK’s symbol, as it did in 2021. Both Arunaraj and Jawahirullah said the DMK panel would respond to their seat demands in the next round of talks, scheduled to be held in two days.
