Lok Sabha elections | DMK, AIADMK reach out to voters across T.N. for inputs on preparation of manifestos

Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK and AIADMK parties are actively seeking voter input for their manifestos in preparation for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Tamil Nadu’s two principal parties - the ruling DMK and the AIADMK - have begun reaching out to different segments of voters as part of their process of preparing manifestos for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The parties are seeking inputs from voters, for their manifestos.

As on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, the AIADMK, which has divided the State into nine zones, covered six zones in three days, starting from the northern region, all the way to the central. The DMK, which also began this exercise on Monday, February 5, toured Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari and Madurai. It is expected to wind up its programme in Chennai two weeks from now, after covering other parts of the State.   

Talking about the difference between the conventional method of manifesto preparation and the present effort, Natham R. Viswanathan, AIADMK’s deputy general secretary and one of the members of the committee in charge of manifesto preparation, says, “Earlier, the entire operation was carried out within the four walls of a room, after getting inputs from specialists and senior leaders.  But, in the current approach, we interact with different stakeholders at their places. We are now able to better appreciate certain problems.”   

Recalling that his party did a similar exercise at the time of the Assembly election in 2021,  T.K.S. Elangovan, DMK’s spokesperson and former MP, points out that these visits and public consultations bring to the fore, the importance of district-specific issues. “For example, on the first day, when we were in Thoothukudi, the people there highlighted the issue of development of infrastructure at the airport.” He adds that while focussing on matters of importance to specific places, the party would not lose track of macro-level issues such as bringing back the subject of education to the State List of the Constitution.

The AIADMK’s organisation secretary and former Minister, D. Jayakumar, observes that the current approach helps the party to keep its machinery in every district more active than in the past. “We have 82 district units and it is the job of each district secretary to ensure that the consultations with different segments of society are held in a fruitful manner.”