DMK refutes Congress request to allot RS seat for Manmohan Singh from TN

Chennai: DMK has named three candidates for the elections to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu, turning down Congress’ request for one Upper House seat for former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Elections for six seats to the Rajya Sabha were announced by the Election Commission last month. The strength of the ruling AIADMK and DMK-led opposition in the assembly is such that they can send three members each to the Upper House.

Many reports have said that Congress had sought one seat for Manmohan Singh as the former PM’s term from Assam had come to an end. The party does not have enough MLAs in Assam to re-nominate Singh to the Parliament.

As per the electoral agreement, the DMK has decided to allocate one seat to MDMK chief Vaiko from its current quota of three. The DMK will contest on the remaining two seats.

According to a statement from party president MK Stalin, party trade union leader M Shanmugam and senior advocate P Wilson are the nominees for the biennial election, slated on July 18.

The AIADMK has 123 MLAs and the DMK 100 members in the 234-member Assembly with two vacancies. DMK ally Congress has seven legislators, while the IUML one. AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran is an Independent member. A candidate needs 34 votes to be elected into the Upper House.