Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s party DMK has finalised a seat-sharing pact with its ally Congress. The party has allotted nine seats to the Congress in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry – a rerun of its 2019 formula. The Congress had won nine out of the ten seats it fought in 2019. Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha seats.

M K Stalin and TNCC chief K Selvaperunthagai finalised the deal, in the presence of senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Ajoy Kumar.

Earlier in the day, actor Kamal Haasan-led Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) joined the ruling DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu and extended its support for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. His party has been given one sear for the 2025 Rajya Sabha polls. This was finalised during a meeting between Mr Haasan and Mr Stalin.  According to the understanding arrived at by the two leaders, MNM will do campaign related work in the 39 Lok Sabha seats in TN and the lone Puducherry segment

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In a shock move weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Election Commissioner Arun Goel has resigned and his resignation has been accepted by the President. The Election Commission of India already had a vacancy and will now be left only with Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. 

Sources had told NDTV earlier on Friday that the Lok Sabha election dates are likely to be announced next week, and it remains to be seen whether that timeline will be affected by Mr Goel’s resignation.