BJP to face urban civic polls in Tamil Nadu alone, first list to be released soon

The Tamil Nadu BJP on Monday announced it would contest alone in the urban civic polls slated to be held on February 19 and asserted that its alliance with the AIADMK in the state remained intact.

It is difficult to firm up seat sharing with the AIADMK for civic body polls considering several practical difficulties at the local level, state BJP president K Annamalai said.

To strengthen the party at grassroots level, local polls are an opportunity and the BJP wanted to fulfill the aspirations of party workers by giving them tickets to contest the civic body polls, he said.

Expressing confidence that the BJP would emerge victorious in a large number of seats, he told reporters here that his party's alliance with the AIADMK, the principal opposition party in Tamil Nadu, continued to be intact.

The alliance with AIADMK would continue for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as well, Annamalai said.

The BJP's announcement comes a day after its talks with the AIADMK top brass here could not inch closer to finalisation of seat sharing while the latter announced its first list of candidates hours later.

On Monday, a second list for candidates was released by the AIADMK. The BJP's first list is expected to be released soon.

Polls to over 12,000 seats in urban local bodies are scheduled to be held on February 19 in a single phase. Counting of votes would begin on February 22.