Parties go into poll mode in Tamil Nadu

The DMK, AIADMK, PMK, BJP gear up for next May's assembly elections.
R Rajagopalan reports.

With Tamil Nadu slowly easing into normalcy after five months of lockdown, with most activities allowed to be resumed, political parties are getting ready for elections to the state assembly due in May.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's general council meeting is to be held on Sunday, September 6, through video conferencing when some 3,500 members will elect the party's general secretary and treasurer.

The DMK has outsourced the technical aspects of its virtual conferencing to election strategist Prashant Kishor's I-PAC.

I-PAC has engaged 350 software engineers on a part-time basis to handle the logistics for the general council meeting in which DMK members from the state's 32 districts will log in as per the time slot allotted to them.

The election to party posts will be conducted by the returning officer at Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters in Chennai.

The first political party to hold organisational elections online, the innovative idea is said to have cost the DMK a few crore rupees. But the process will be certified by the DMK only after the Election Commission's directives.

The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam too is all set to hold a gala public virtual meeting on September 15, mentor C N Annadurai's 111th birthday.

The state Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to hold a virtual convention on September 17 to mark Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's 70th birthday.

The Pattali Makkal Katchi will hold a meeting of its executive on September 27.

And superstar Rajinikanth is expected to announce the long-delayed launch of his political party on Gandhi Jayanti, October 2, via video-conference.

Finally, former chief minister J Jayalalithaa's confidante Sasikala has completed her four-year jail term in Bengaluru and is expected to be released in mid-October or early November. Her return is expected to give an added impetus to political activity in the state.

Anticipating all this, Tamil news television channels have drawn up mega pre-poll surveys to be aired from the middle of September.