Chennai, March 14 (IANS): The CPI-M and CPI will contest from 17 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and one of Puducherry in the April general elections, the parties said here Friday.

According to the officials of both parties, the list of candidates will be announced soon.

As per the agreement between the two parties, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) would contest Madurai, Coimbatore, Chennai North, Trichy, Dindigul,Virudhunagar, Thanjavur, Kanyakumari and Villupuram constituencies.

On the other hand, the Communist Party of India (CPI) would contest Nagapattinam, Tenkasi, Tiruppur, Sivaganga, Dharmapuri, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur and Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat.

During the 2009 elections, the two communist parties contested from three seats each.

Initially, Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK and the two communist parties had announced that they would fight the elections as allies, but the alliance broke as AIADMK refused to share more than one seat each to the left parties while announcing its list of candidates for all the 40 seats (39 in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry).