Chennai: With about a year to go for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, political parties have begun courting each other for possible alliances. While the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is sitting cosy with its traditional allies, the rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have mended fences, and political debutant Vijay is on the lookout for a suitable partner for his Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK).
However, one leader far away from this hectic alliance activity is Naam Tamilar Katchi’s (NTK) S. Seeman.
Ever since the party started to contest elections from 2016 onwards, it has chosen to remain independent and shunned tie-ups with any party. So on Wednesday, when Seeman met former AIADMK leader O. Panneerselvam at a private hotel in Chennai, it raised eyebrows.
Seeman, however, clarified to the media that the meeting had nothing to do with politics. He also said that like earlier, he wouldn’t be joining any alliance for the assembly election.
Political commentators in the state believe it is just a matter of time before the NTK too takes the alliance route as sustaining in electoral politics is otherwise close to impossible. But party insiders say an alliance with the two major Dravidian parties, DMK and AIADMK, and two national parties, Congress and BJP, would compromise the interests of Tamilians and the state.
Speaking to ThePrint, NTK’s youth wing coordinator Idumbavanam Karthik said his party would not join hands with any of the Dravidian parties or national parties.
“We have 15 demands, including that jobs in Tamil Nadu be given only to Tamilians. We would be happy to accept an alliance with the parties if they accept the leadership of our leader, Seeman, accept our ideology and join hands with us. We do not want to join under the leadership of someone else,” he said.
He added that the NTK had learnt a lesson looking at the other small parties such as the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) led by Vaiko and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) led by Premalatha Vijayakanth, which had tied up with the Dravidian parties.
DMK allies include MDMK, while the DMDK has been a partner of the AIADMK.
Sources in the NTK told ThePrint that Seeman believes contesting alone would help the party build up from the grassroots-level. “He often points to the Trinamool Congress party in West Bengal, which initially lost polls but later succeeded and came to power,” a source said.
Speaking to ThePrint, political commentator N. Sathiya Moorthy said no party has come to power contesting all alone.
“The winning party has not contested alone in the history of the state. Sustaining oneself in Tamil Nadu politics is not a joke. He (Seeman) might change his position in the future. It is only a matter of time,” he said.
In the 2016 Tamil Nadu election, the NTK had secured just 1.1 percent vote share, then increased this to 3.9 percent in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and to 6.7 percent in the 2021 state election. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the party secured 8.2 percent vote share and was recognised as a state party.
There are only four parties recognised as state parties currently, DMK and AIADMK, NTK and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), with the last two recognised after the 2024 elections.
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‘Support from under-represented communities’
While it is largely believed that a section of youth in Tamil Nadu is supportive of Seeman, political analyst Raveendran Duraisamy pointed out that Seeman was targeting the under-represented among the Most Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes.
“The two Dravidian parties largely concentrate on the dominant communities, from whom they can draw a chunk of votes. But there are a lot of other smaller, under-represented Tamil communities that are backing Seeman, and he is well connected with them,” said Duraisamy.
Gaining state party status and contesting the state polls alone for the third consecutive time, NTK workers believe the party would secure about 25 percent of votes this time.
“We have started to depute booth agents from now on and we have even announced candidates for some of the constituencies. We began our work even before the ruling party started. So, we are confident of securing 25 percent votes this time,” Karthik said.
However, Sathiya Moorthy doubts if the party will even be able to retain its 8 percent vote share.
“The party secured 8 percent vote share when it was a four-cornered fight and when the AIADMK and BJP had contested separately. Now, the two have joined hands and actor-turned politician Vijay is also contesting the 2026 election. Vijay might eat into NTK’s vote share. So, it might be difficult for the NTK to retain it,” he explained.
Seeman, director-cum-actor who turned politician, had in 2006 campaigned for the DMK alliance and then for the AIADMK in 2011, before floating his own party.
Karthik said the party had learnt its lesson. “Be it be Vaiko’s MDMK or Vijayakanth’s DMDK, they were a potential third front at one point, but vanished after joining hands with the Dravidian parties. These were the lessons for us to not tie up the Dravidian parties and we would now form an alliance only under the leadership of our leader Seeman,” he reiterated.
NTK’s social media popularity
Although Seeman secured only 8.2 percent of votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, his influence and popularity on social media surpasses that of other political party leaders. This is evident from higher engagement rates, viral content and frequent trending of NTK-related hashtags on social media, driven by his appeal to the youth and Tamil nationalist sentiments.
According to Sunilkumar, political analyst and assistant professor of political science at Hindustan University, the time when Seeman entered electoral politics was the reason behind his social media popularity.
“The leaders and workers of the two dominant Dravidian parties, DMK and AIADMK, are generally well-educated and have a higher number of intellectuals compared to newer political parties. This is largely because these parties emerged during the peak of the newspaper publishing era. In contrast, Seeman’s NTK entered electoral politics in 2016, coinciding with the rise of social media platforms in Tamil Nadu,” he told ThePrint.
He also said popularity on social media may not reflect on the ground due to various reasons.
“One of the main reasons is that most of the online supporters of NTK are abroad. There is a huge fan following from Singapore and Malaysia where Tamil refugees have settled. So, his fierce speech about Tamils and state autonomy gets more traction,” he added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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