CHENNAI: Allotment of seats in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly has been slightly modified to reflect the new composition of the House following the recent by-elections to 22 constituencies along with the Lok Sabha polls.
The change in the seats allotment has been necessitated by the fact that the strength of the DMK MLAs’ has, after the bypolls, gone up to 100, even as the ruling AIADMK’s strength is now 123 including the Speaker.
While Congress has seven MLAs, IUML one and Independent one, there are two vacancies to be filled following resignation of H Vasanthkumar, Congress member who represented Nanguneri constituency and the demise of DMK MLA K Rathamani who represented Vikravandi.
Before the bypolls, seats for AIADMK members were allotted in the opposition rows also, as the ruling party since the 2016 May elections had won 134 seats in the 234-member House. The total strength is 235 including nominated member.
In the post-bypolls scenario, with the DMK MLAs’ numbers’ having gone up to 100, all the AIADMK MLAs’ have, as per the new allotment, been given seats in the ruling party rows only.
The opposition benches will accommodate only the DMK, Congress, IUML members besides the sole independent in Mr T T V Dhinakaran. The seats have been allotted in the alphabetical order of the members’ names, a source in the Legislative Assembly said.
