CHENNAI: In a bid to realise its ambitious goal of winning at least 200 seats in the 2026 Assembly election, the DMK has designated persons in-charge for all 234 constituencies. Though the party general secretary Duraimurugan said these appointments are solely focussed on establishing booth committees and booth-level agents apart from the electoral roll verification, the party sources said the persons in-charge have to do more than these assigned tasks.
Duraimurugan said the party has appointed former MLAs and ministers, ex-MPs, former corporation mayor, ex-municipal chairman, former vice chancellor, incumbent deputy mayor and others as persons in-charge of constituencies.
Some of the important nominees are R Viduthalai, legal wing president (Kolathur), P Sekar, state cadre wing secretary (Tiruvallur), R Rajiv Gandhi, students’ wing state president (Alandur), Dr EVV Kamban, son of minister EV Velu (Polur), EG Sugavanam, former MP (Omalur), J Rekha Priyadharsini, former Salem Mayor (Senthamangalam), Bhavani Rajendran, former MP (Thiruchuzhi), N Suresh Rajan, ex-minister (Nanguneri), Dhanush M Kumar, former MP (Vasudevanallur) and Vijila Sathyanand, ex-MP (Padmanabhapuram).
Sources said these appointees will serve as external observers, reporting directly to the leadership. Their responsibilities include monitoring constituency-level developments and providing feedback to strengthen the party’s presence.
Some newly appointed in-charges, on condition of anonymity, told TNIE since the party has been contesting in elections for the last seven decades, it has a well-oiled machinery at the grassroots level, and there is no need to appoint persons in-charge to oversee the booth committee works. “Hence, the task for us is different,” one of them said.
The DMK’s decision to make these appointments, however, is not new. The party employed a similar tactic in 2021 Assembly election, when it returned to power after a decade. During that election, constituency in-charges played a crucial role in mobilising local party workers, resolving internal conflicts, and fine-tuning campaign strategies based on feedback. The DMK’s attention to micro-level constituency management was one of the factors credited with its sweeping victory, securing 133 seats in a tightly contested race.
Ahead of the 2021 election, DMK’s persons in-charge for the constituencies were also tasked with identifying winnable candidates, intensifying anti-incumbency sentiments against local representatives, and effectively communicating the party’s promises to voters. This model helped the party focus on critical battleground constituencies.
A significant element of DMK’s current strategy is its focus on digital campaigns and media outreach. Unlike in the 2021 election, where social media played a moderate role, 2026 is expected to be more influenced by online narratives. The in-charges, as external observers, will likely play a key role in managing the local impact of digital campaigns, ensuring campaign against the DMK is countered effectively.