Focus on young blood, mandatory two-term limit: DMK’s overhaul to bounce back after poll defeat

Months after facing an electoral setback at the hands of debutant TVK led by Joseph C Vijay, MK Stalin's DMK is planning an organisational overhaul with focus on young blood after the party passed a resolution to radically restructure the party.

The DMK, the principal opposition in Tamil Nadu, on Saturday unveiled a structural overhaul in its organisation fixing strict age caps and limiting term for party posts, news agency PTI reported.

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The party's executive committee passed the key resolution for restructuring of its organisation setup at meeting at Anna Arivalayam - the DMK state headquarters. Party chief Stalin chaired the meeting.

Inside DMK's overhaul plan

The DMK will expand its organisational districts from 78 to 110, with each district broadly mapped across two Assembly constituencies to ensure localised administration under the new blueprint, the report added.

The DMK will no more have "city secretary" in major urban centers such as Coimbatore and Tambaram as it completely abolished the post.

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Also, the urban zones will be redrawn by voter density - Chennai Corporation Area Committees will average 40,000 voters, while other corporations will average 30,000 voters per committee, according to PTI report.

Once Stalin formally releases the boundary maps for the 110 revamped districts, district executive committees must convene within 15 days under headquarters oversight to execute the transition.

Nine key resolutions passed

The executive committee reportedly passed nine crucial resolutions to radically restructure its organisational setup in the backdrop of the DMK's electoral setback.

Aiming to professionalise party operations and foster generational succession, the leadership has introduced strict age caps, a mandatory two-term limit across all posts, and a massive expansion of organisational districts.

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The resolutions said that the maximum age for a Branch Committee Secretary has been fixed at 45 years. A person elected as Branch Committee Secretary can hold the post for a maximum of two terms, ANI reported.

Branch Committees will be formed in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, and Salem corporations, and in other corporations wherever necessary, to strengthen the Ward Committees.

The maximum age for Municipal/City/Town Panchayat Ward Committee Secretaries has been fixed at 50 years. A person can hold the post for a maximum of two terms.

The maximum age for a Town Panchayat Committee Secretary has been fixed at 60 years, and a person can hold the post for a maximum of two terms.

What Stalin said

Addressing the meeting, Stalin said the party had only lost an election, not suffered a permanent defeat.

"Let us consider this as an opportunity we have been given to plan the future of the party. This is going to be a very important Executive Committee meeting in the history of the party. With your approval, we are going to make major and significant changes to the organisational structure of the party," Stalin was quoted as saying by ANI.

Stalin acknowledged that the functioning of party office-bearers was among the reasons for the defeat, and said mistakes must be openly admitted. He said that rather than examining each constituency individually and simply replacing people, he opted for a comprehensive self-assessment.

"Even if the mistake is committed by an individual, it is the 75-year-old party that suffers because of it. After a defeat, many reasons are put forward. Instead of examining each constituency individually, identifying shortcomings and simply replacing people, I decided that we need to undertake a comprehensive self-assessment," he said.