JOIN USDMK prepares for LS polls, appoints observers for all assembly segments
To ensure that the party is battle-ready for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu has appointed observers for all 234 assembly constituencies to oversee the preparations, including strengthening the booth committees.
The observers, who are chosen from various wings of the party like youth, IT, women, and law, have also been asked to enroll about 50,000 people in the party in each constituency.
This is the first time, seniors point out, the DMK has appointed observers at the assembly constituency level, in a deviation from the district level. Many of the observers are young party functionaries with the DMK hoping that they will attract youngsters to vote for the party.
DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin has set a target of the party-led alliance winning all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. He has reiterated more than once that the alliance will continue for the 2024 polls.
“Though there is a year’s time for the Lok Sabha elections, the party leadership doesn’t want to take chances. Appointing observers for all assembly constituencies shows the importance that the party attaches to the Lok Sabha elections. They want to ensure that every assembly seat is covered,” a DMK leader told DH.
The leader said apart from enrolling new cadres, the observers will focus on strengthening the booth committees in every constituency and ensuring that members reach out to voters every now and then by taking the “good initiatives” of the DMK government
Another leader said Stalin has been stressing in internal meetings about the importance of booth committees and how strengthening them further will help the party win the Lok Sabha polls.
“The observers will spend enough time in constituencies allotted to them and interact with cadres and functionaries. They will find out lacunae if any and make immediate corrections. They will also find ways to increase votes in each booth,” the second leader added.
DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance consisting of Congress, Left, MDMK, VCK, and IUML won 39 of the 40 seats in the 2019 elections with the AIADMK-BJP managing to win only one seat.
The first leader quoted said a landslide win for the DMK alliance was necessary with Stalin projecting the BJP as his biggest nemesis. Since he has projected the 2024 election as one which is about who shouldn’t come to power and not who should, the leader said, the DMK was committed to get maximum seats from TN to strengthen the opposition alliance.