Tamil Nadu: DMK Aims for 200 Seats in 2026 Assembly

Chennai: Fixing a target of winning at least 200 seats in the 2026 Assembly elections in the State, DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin urged the party cadre to be dedicatedly focused on the polls in the next two years by reaching out to the people with the achievements of the present government even while responding to criticism.

Addressing the party’s district secretaries on Friday, Stalin made it clear that the target of 200 was not a sort of platform speech rhetoric but a highly achievable goal in view of the welfare schemes launched by the DMK government in the last three years, touching the lives of at least one person in every household.

To convert the benefits of the plethora of social welfare schemes into votes, the field work of the party cadre was highly essential and it had to start now itself, he said at first meeting of district secretaries after the Lok Sabha elections, in which the party romped home in all the 40 constituencies in the State and neighbouring Union Territory of Puducherry.

Expressing his appreciation and gratitude to the district secretaries and other top office-bearers for the unprecedented victory in the Lok Sabha polls, he wanted them to convey his thanks to the party workers and cadre and acknowledged the dedication of all that had ensured the survival of the party for 75 years.

Formally making an announcement on his trip to the United States to attract business investments to the State from August 27, Stalin said that he would be anyway keeping in touch with the developments back home and closely monitoring the progress of the work on ‘Mupperum Vizha’ (Three great festivals) of the party that would be celebrated on a grand scale.

The ‘Mupperum Vizha’ would mark the 75th founding day of the DMK and the birth anniversaries of party founder C N Annadurai and founder of the Dravidian movement Periyar E V Ramasamy and celebrated on September 17.

The DMK was the first regional party to capture power in a State thus writing a political history for the nation, he said, adding that the party had now made history by winning each and every election that it contested from the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to the recent by-election to the Vikravandi Assembly constituency.

The meeting passed three resolutions, one congratulating the party president for his continuous electoral victories that included the clean sweep in the Lok Sabha polls, another one on organizing the ‘Mupperum Vizha’ in Chennai and the third one on protecting State’s rights by following the principles of M Karunanidhi. In that count, the meeting thanked the Union Government for agreeing to release a currency coin of Rs 100 face value with Karunanidhi's image embossed on it.

A book titled ‘Nadalumantra Therthal 2024 -40/40 Then Thisai Theerpu’ (A 40/40 verdict from the Southern Direction in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections), written by Stalin was also released at the district secretaries meeting by party general secretary Duraimurugan with party treasurer T R Baalu receiving the first copy.

The book, documenting electoral history, explains how the DMK alliance pulled it off in the polls, particularly with reference to the strategy adopted by Stalin. It contains photographs and infographics and provides details on the campaign.