As Tamil Nadu is driving towards the crucial assembly polls, both ADMK and DMK had finalized the talks with the national parties and the state would be witnessing an unprecedented clash between the national parties in the polls as the Congress and BJP will directly be locking horns in five constituencies. 

On Thursday, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President KS Alagiri has released the list of 25 constituencies that the party will be contesting across the state in the DMK alliance. The development has come days after the DMK had inked a deal with the grand old party agreeing to offer 25 seats. Following the deal, both parties had held talks over picking the constituencies, and after the episodes of negotiations, both parties had reached a consensus and finalized the constituencies. 

KS Alagiri had released the list of 25 constituencies that the Congress party has picked to contest and as per the list, the Congress party will be contesting in Coimbatore South, Sriperumbudur, Velachery, Erode East, Aranthangi, Thiruvadanai, Srivilliputhur, Vellore, Omalur, Salem, Killiyur, Nanguneri, Srivaikundam, Karaikudi, Vilavankodu, Uthangarai, Colachel, Ponneri, Tenkasi, Sholingur, Vridhachalam, Udumalaipetti, Kallakurichi, Mayiladuthurai, and Udhagamandalam. 

As the Congress party had picked the constituencies from across the state, it gets ready for a direct clash with BJP in five constituencies - Coimbatore South, Karaikudi, Colachel, Vilavankodu, and Udhagamandalam, and not to be ignored - Kanyakumari Lok Sabha by-poll. The Central ruling BJP travels with the ADMK alliance and last week, BJP and ADMK had inked a deal and the state ruling party has agreed to offer 20 seats to BJP after hectic parleys and talks. 

On Wednesday, BJP had released its candidates for 20 constituencies and as per the deal, the Central ruling party will be contesting in Tiruvannamalai, Nagercoil, Colachel, Vilavancode, Ramanathapuram, Modakurichi, Chennai Port, Thousand Lights, Thirukovilur, Thittakudi, Coimbatore South, Virudhunagar, Aravakurichi, Thiruvaiyaru, Udhagamandalam, Tirunelveli, Thalli (Krishnagiri), Karaikudi, Dharapuram, and Madurai North. 

Though both the national parties released their constituencies, they are yet to furnish the list of candidates to contest in the polls. According to reports, BJP will most likely field state-level leaders and celebrities from L Murugan, Annamalai, H Raja, Vanathi Srinivasan, to Khushbu Sundar and Gautami. It has been reported that H Raja will be contesting from Karaikudi and Vanathi Srinivasan will win the ticket for Coimbatore South. 

The state leaders of both parties are in talks with their national leadership to finalize the candidates and it has been expected that they will be unveiling the list of candidates by Monday. While addressing the reporters on Thursday after releasing the list of 25 constituencies, Congress leader KS Alagiri said, "DMK and Congress have reached an agreement on the number of seats. The agreement has happened fully according to our wishes. This has happened in a way that gives us happiness and confidence". 

Initially, the Congress party had begun the talks with DMK by demanding 40 seats, and later on, the Central party had reached a consensus with DMK and agreed for 20 seats. While the Congress party had announced its constituencies, DMK President MK Stalin will be announcing the candidates and constituencies for DMK on Friday, the first day of filing nomination papers to contest in the polls. Tamil Nadu will go to the single-phase poll on April 6. Let's take a look at the election schedule in Tamil Nadu. 

• Single-phase election for all the 234 constituencies
• Issue of Notification - March 12th, 2021.
• Last date of nomination - March 19th, 2021.
• Last date of scrutiny - March 20th, 2021.
• Last date for withdrawing nomination - March 22nd, 2021
• Date of Election - April 6th, 2021. 
• Date of counting - May 2nd, 2021, during which the winner will be declared.