Puducherry: A day after the filing of nomination papers for the Puducherry Legislative Assembly elections ended with last-minute seat-sharing talks between Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) Tuesday announced it would independently contest in three constituencies—Ossudu, Nettapakkam, and Ozhukarai. The uncertainty was causing its party leaders “mental stress”, the VCK said.
The VCK move comes after prolonged negotiations yielded no clear constituency allocations for the party. The party, long part of the DMK-Congress-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), had sought to contest three seats but no conclusion could be reached.
Meanwhile, the DMK proposed just one seat for VCK. After the seat-sharing talks, Congress will field candidates in 16 seats while DMK will contest 14.
“In 2001, we contested in two constituencies as part of the DMK-led alliance. In the 2021 elections, the Congress allotted only the Ozhukarai general constituency. To avoid putting pressure on the alliance, we accepted it at that time and contested. However, we did not receive cooperation from the alliance parties. Nevertheless, we secured more than 6,000 votes,” party founder Thol. Thirumavalavan said in a statement Tuesday.
“The Congress party, which will contest in the majority of seats in the alliance, has not come forward to allot constituencies to other alliance parties. From the DMK side, there has been a proposal to allot one constituency to VCK. However, even after the nomination filing is complete, it is still not confirmed which constituency that will be. In all the constituencies where the Communist Party of India (CPI) has filed nominations, the Congress has also filed nominations. In a situation where it is still unknown which constituency will be allotted to VCK, the executives of our party have been subjected to unnecessary mental stress,” said Thirumavalavan.
He said that the party has therefore decided to contest independently in the three constituencies of Oosudu, Nettapakkam, and Ozhukarai where nominations have currently been filed. “Support will be extended to the SPA candidates in the other constituencies where we are not contesting,” he added.
With Congress clashing with CPI across seats and uncertainty about the constituencies the DMK will contest, political analysts ThePrint spoke to said internal turmoil in the Congress is also adding to concerns of the party.
“Adi Dravidar vote is very important in Puducherry and that is a consolidated vote bank for VCK. Congress has not given enough importance to the community. While Congress wants to have a ‘big brother’ attitude, it is harming the alliance. Moreover, their internal conflicts and poor management are playing out to be a major problem for them,” said Sunilkumar V.M., a political science faculty member at a Chennai-based private university.
Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu, the VCK has been allocated 8 seats as part of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance for the coming assembly elections. Of the 8 seats, 6 will be reserved, and two will be general constituencies.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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