Chennai, Oct 3 (IANS ): The DMK held an Election Coordination Committee meeting at its party headquarters Anna Arivalayam which was chaired by DMK Youth Wing President and Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday.
The DMK had constituted a five-member election coordination committee aimed at the 2026 Assembly elections. The committee headed by Udhayanidhi Stalin also included Organising Secretary R.S. Bharathi; senior leaders and ministers K.N. Nehru, E.V. Velu and Thangam Thenarasu.
The first meeting of the coordination committee was held in July.
DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has asked the party leaders to ensure that the DMK-led front wins 200 seats in the 2026 Assembly elections.
M.K. Stalin reshuffled his cabinet on 28th September by carefully choosing his team aimed at garnering 200 seats.
The DMK President has before the rejig of his cabinet conducted a series of meetings with the party district office bearers and then took a call on the names to be included in the Cabinet.
He has elevated his son and Tamil Nadu Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Development, Udhayanidhi Stalin as the Deputy Chief minister in order to capitalise on the youth power.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it was Udhayanidhi Stalin who had effectively run the campaign for the DMK and travelled across the state making him the most travelled leader in that polls.
The young scion from the first family of the DMK had also conducted an aggressive campaign in the state and took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ensured the victory of the DMK-led INDIA bloc candidates in all the 39 seats of Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry.
Stalin has also brought back Senthil Balaji, who is out on bail. Balaji is a highly resourceful person and Stalin brought him back to the cabinet and gave him both the Electricity and Excise portfolios which are aimed at breaking the citadel of the principal opposition, AIADMK in Western Tamil Nadu, from where Balaji hails.
The induction of the Dalit leader Govi Chezhiaan to the post of Higher Education Minister replacing powerful leader K. Ponmudi is aimed at capitalising on the Dalit vote bank and giving a strong message to the Dalit political party Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) which had raised the demand to be included in the cabinet.
R. Rajendran who is the sole winner for the DMK in Salem district (another stronghold of AIADMK) is aimed at getting the maximum seats from that belt in the next Assembly polls.
The Chief Minister has also shown the door to Gingee K. Mastan who was the Minorities and Tamil Nadu NRI welfare minister as he was termed as underperforming or rather performing poorly. He is replaced by Avadi MLA S.M. Nasser. The move is also aimed at consolidating the minority vote bank in Tamil Nadu.
In the 234-member Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu, DMK has 133 MLAs and its allies Congress (18), VCK (4), CPI (2) and CPI-M (2) with a total of 159 seats in the house. The DMK-led alliance also got a commendable vote share of 45.38 per cent.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the AIADMK opposed the DMK in the 2021 polls.
While AIADMK won 66 seats in the elections, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) won five seats and the BJP managed to win four with a total vote share of 39.71 per cent.