Bihar election result sparks seat sharing tussle: DMK supporters push to curb Congress quota in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: The Congress party's dismal performance in the Bihar Assembly elections is sending political shockwaves to Tamil Nadu, triggering a major internal debate within the ruling DMK's own ranks. Following the Congress's poor showing, a strong chorus from the DMK's supporter base and second-rung leadership is now asserting that the party should be allocated no more than ten seats for the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly polls, a significant reduction from its previous tally.

The vote counting for the 243-seat Bihar Assembly has painted a grim picture for the Congress, a key member of the opposition 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance). As of trends, the Congress was leading in only a handful of constituencies, being outperformed even by other smaller parties. More critically, the party secured a meager vote share of approximately 8.16%, a figure that DMK cadres in Tamil Nadu view as a severe erosion of its political capital. This performance, in a high-stakes Hindi-heartland state, has provided ample ammunition to the DMK's own base to demand a recalibration of its ally's seat share.

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The Bihar results have directly impacted the political calculus within the DMK, with pressure building from the bottom up. The party's grassroots supporters and local functionaries have now begun vocalizing a long-simmering sentiment, arguing that allocating a large number of seats to the Congress is a strategic misstep. They contend that granting the Congress additional seats, or even maintaining its previous quota, would be a "waste" of the DMK alliance's winnable positions. Internal discussions, driven by this sentiment, now suggest a push from within to offer the Congress a minimal allotment—pegged at a maximum of the 25 seats it contested last time, with a strong demand from the cadre to reduce it to just ten seats.

This proposed cut is in stark contrast to the Congress's own expectations. Prior to the Bihar verdict, the party had confidently lobbied for an increase in its seat share for the Tamil Nadu elections. Virudhunagar Congress MP Manickam Tagore had even set a conditional precedent, stating that the party's top leadership would campaign vigorously only if the Congress was given "due respect" in the seat-sharing agreement. However, this demand now appears severely undermined by the party's failure to perform even in its former strongholds within Tamil Nadu during previous elections, such as in Virudhunagar, the hometown of legendary Congress leader K. Kamaraj.

The internal DMK demand is further bolstered by the Congress's track record in the last Tamil Nadu assembly elections. Despite being allotted 25 seats in the DMK alliance, the party managed to win only 18, resulting in a 72% success rate. For many in the DMK, this sub-par performance, combined with the national-level drubbing in Bihar, confirms that the Congress's bargaining power has significantly diminished.