CHENNAI: Gearing up for the Assembly elections next year, leaders of DMK and Congress have begun identifying constituencies that may work in their favour. They have also turned to cadre for their opinions and suggestions.

According to sources, DMK is also spotting constituencies favourable to their allies, in order to avoid an eleventh-hour tension during seat-sharing talks. “DMK leadership has requested the Congress State unit to identify a decent number of segments that would back them in the polls,” sources added.

The Congress had managed to win only eight out its 41 allocated seats in the last general elections, and DMK wants to avoid such a situation this time around, said sources. TNCC president KS Alagiri commenced party’s pre-election works from Tirupur on Thursday.

“Our pre-election works will have three phases. First, we would take feedback from district presidents and booth-level functionaries, and they will also be assigned some tasks. In this phase, the State unit will visit three constituencies per week. In the next phase, our State-level functionaries will check if booth-level leaders have completed their tasks. Lastly, we will conduct rallies to reach out to voters,” Alagiri told TNIE.

The DMK is leaving no stone unturned this time. Party principal secretary and former minister KN Nehru has been touring across the State for the last three months to settle any disputes among functionaries.
A DMK source said, “During the 2016 polls, party witnessed stiff opposition from cadres against declared candidates in some segments. Declared candidates in some constituencies even refused to contest.” A source close to party leadership said, “DMK does not want to earn the wrath of alliance party cadre. If the alliance has visible influence in a particular constituency it would be allocated to them.”