The AIADMK and the BJP in Tamil Nadu have successfully finalised a seat-sharing pact ahead of the Assembly elections. Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 23 to elect 234 legislators. In the 234-seat Legislative Assembly, the NDA’s four partners will contest as follows — AIADMK on 178 seats, BJP on 27 seats, PMK on 18 seats, and AMMK, led by TTV Dhinakaran, on 11 seats.
AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami announced this at a joint press conference on March 23, attended by Union Minister and TN poll in-charge Piyush Goyal, BJP Tamil Nadu president Nainar Nagendran, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss, and AMMK General Secretary TTV Dhinakaran. Additionally, AC Shanmugam of Puthiya Needhi Katchi confirmed that he has requested nine constituencies under the BJP’s lotus symbol.
தமிழ்நாட்டின் உணர்வுகளைப் புரிந்து,
தமிழக மக்களின் எண்ணங்களை ஈடேற்றி,
மக்களைக் காத்து, தமிழகத்தை மீட்கப் போகும் நம் @AIADMKOfficial தலைமையிலான தேசிய ஜனநாயகக் கூட்டணியில் உள்ள கட்சிகளின் தலைவர்கள் நம் தலைமைக் கழகம் புரட்சித் தலைவர் எம்ஜிஆர் மாளிகையில் சந்தித்து நடத்திய… pic.twitter.com/2Xg52QTlyg— Edappadi K Palaniswami-SayYEStoWomenSafety&AIADMK (@EPSTamilNadu) March 23, 2026
Earlier, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami flew to Delhi to personally meet Home Minister Amit Shah. TTV Dhinakaran went separately. Piyush Goyal flew to Chennai. And on March 23, with polling exactly one month away on April 23, the deal was finally announced at a joint press conference at the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai.
BJP: 27
PMK: 18
AMMK: 11Is decided as the seat sharing and signed by NDA TamilNadu CM candidate @EPSTamilNadu and Central Minister @PiyushGoyal.
The seats allocated to NDA parties have a 100% win rate with the one goal to eradicate DMK🗿🔥 pic.twitter.com/UomAStXJj7
— Sanghi Prince 🚩 (@SanghiPrince) March 23, 2026
In the 2021 Tamil Nadu state assembly elections, the BJP contested only 20 seats and won four. As per today’s agreement, the BJP will contest in 27 seats, seven more than last time, with a 35 per cent expansion of its Tamil Nadu electoral footprint in a single cycle.
மத்திய அமைச்சர் திரு.@PiyushGoyal அவர்கள் செய்தியாளர் சந்திப்பு pic.twitter.com/kHYYHZqdOz
— BJP Tamilnadu (@BJP4TamilNadu) March 23, 2026
Former Telangana Governor and senior BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan described the alliance as very strong and expressed confidence that it would win the elections.
Tamil Nadu will vote in a single phase on April 23, with counting scheduled for May 4. The tenure of the current 234-member Assembly is set to end on May 10.
Meanwhile, in the DMK camp, which has started alliance talks and allotment of seats, it is still holding parleys with CPI (M) and VCK, while Thamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TaVK), led by T Velmurugan, walked out of the DMK-led SPA alliance on March 22, citing the DMK’s ‘big brother’ attitude.
As of now, the contest is expected mainly between the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), which includes the Congress and other parties, and the NDA bloc led by the AIADMK, with BJP and PMK among its key allies.
Fledgling actor-turned-politician Joseph Vijay’s TVK, Seeman’s NTK, and the rival PMK faction led by Dr S Ramadoss, along with VK Sasikala’s All India Puratchi Thalaivar Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AIPTMMK), would also be in the fray, potentially playing spoilsport by splitting anti-incumbency votes.
