Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has appointed seven zonal in-charges for the 2026 assembly polls, as party president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin prepares to present the party’s 2026 election plan at its general council meeting on 1 June.
Senior leaders told ThePrint the DMK is ahead of all other parties in election preparations.
“The 2026 assembly election work began in December 2024, the constituency and candidates reports were ready by March 2025. In fact, the zonal functionaries, who were usually appointed a month before the election, have been appointed now itself,” a senior leader told ThePrint.
According to DMK sources, party deputy general secretaries and MPs A. Raja and Kanimozhi Karunanidhi have been appointed for the Chennai and southern zones.
Senior ministers K.N. Nehru and E.V. Velu were appointed as in-charges for the central and northern zones. Ministers Thangam Thennarasu and Sakkarapani were appointed for the Madurai zone and Erode, Salem and Namakkal districts
Senthil Balaji, recently relieved from the state cabinet, has been tasked with looking after the western region, including Coimbatore, Tirupur, Karur and surrounding districts.
Political analysts think the DMK is more serious about the 2026 assembly election than the 2021 assembly election.
“Although in the current scenario the anti-incumbency votes are likely to get divided between the NDA, the Seeman-led Naam Tamilar Katchi and Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kalagam, the DMK does not want to stay complacent. Because, if the NDA becomes strong, there are chances of consolidating the anti-incumbency and harvesting the votes against DMK,” political analyst N. Sathiya Moorthy told ThePrint.
DMK spokesperson and MP T.K.S.Elangovan said that the aim was to achieve the target of winning 200 of 234 seats in the state. “We are not bothered about the opposition alliance since it was only an opportunistic one. We are working towards a historical victory in the upcoming assembly election,” Elangovan said.
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Deputy secretaries appointed to avoid internal feud
The appointments have also brought the long-simmering internal rivalry between senior party ministers to the fore. Among the newly appointed zonal in-charges, except A. Raja, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and Senthil Balaji, the rest are ministers.
While Senthil Balaji is a former minister, A. Raja and Kanimozhi Karunanidhi are Lok Sabha MPs from the Nilgiris and Thoothukudi constituencies.
Despite having senior leaders from the state cabinet in the Chennai and southern zones, DMK chose to appoint A. Raja and Kanimozhi, who were only star campaigners in the last assembly election. A senior DMK leader said the appointments aimed to avoid internal feuds in these zones, as there is a tug of war between the ministers in the area.
“If you take the Chennai zone, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment department minister, P.K. Sekar Babu, and Health Minister Ma Subramanian are powerful. But if we appoint any of them in the region, supporters of the other camp would not work properly. Hence, A Raja was appointed as a common person for both the camps,” a senior leader privy to the developments told ThePrint.
Similarly, in the southern region, there is a long-simmering rift between the supporters of Minister Anitha R. Radhakrishnan and Geetha Jeevan.
“Again, appointing any one of them in that region also would pave the way for factionalism. Hence, Kanimozhi, a common person for both of them, was appointed as the zonal in-charge,” the senior leader told ThePrint.
Elangovan said the high command made the appointment to ensure smooth functioning within the party. “There may be differences between individuals, but when it comes to party work, everybody will work towards winning the election,” Elangovan said.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed zonal in-charges are already in their constituencies, taking stock at the booth level.
A source closely associated with Kanimozhi told ThePrint that she has been meeting booth-level functionaries to facilitate campaign operations.
“She wants to take all the welfare schemes implemented by the Tamil Nadu government to the grassroots level people through the booth-level functionaries. So, she has been meeting the grassroots level functionaries in the southern districts and ensures that they have enough material to speak on the schemes and the benefits,” the source told ThePrint.
Meanwhile, the election cell led by the party’s youth wing secretary and deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has been tasked to directly engage with the public and highlight the impact of state government schemes.
“He is more into attracting the students and youth in the state. He also reviews the election work across the state. Udhayanidhi also has a say on the comprehensive plan that is to be unveiled by the chief minister at the party’s general council meeting on June 1 at Madurai,” a youth wing functionary told ThePrint.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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