The DMK on Saturday approved a major organisational overhaul, introducing age caps and two-term limits for party posts and expanding its organisational districts from 78 to 110 following its electoral setback in the April 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, reported.

The party's executive committee, chaired by DMK president M K Stalin at the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam, passed nine resolutions aimed at restructuring the organisation.

Under the new structure, each of the 110 organisational districts will broadly cover two assembly constituencies. The move is aimed at creating more localised administration, according to the report.

The party will also abolish the standalone "city secretary" post in major urban centres such as Coimbatore and Tambaram.

Urban areas will instead be reorganised based on voter density. Chennai Corporation Area Committees will have an average of 40,000 voters, while committees in other corporations will have around 30,000 voters.

Once Stalin formally releases the boundary maps for the revamped districts, district executive committees will have to meet within 15 days under the supervision of the party headquarters to implement the changes.

The restructuring introduces age limits for several organisational positions.

The maximum age for a branch secretary has been fixed at 45 years, while ward committee secretaries in municipalities, corporations and town panchayats will have an upper age limit of 50 years.

The maximum age for town panchayat committee secretaries has been fixed at 60 years, while the cap for district secretaries will be 70 years. All these posts will be limited to two terms.

According to party sources cited by , the changes are expected to reduce the territorial powers of the existing 77 district secretaries and shorten their tenure.

Nearly 10 to 13 district secretaries could be affected by the age cap, with the party likely to move some of them to non-administrative state-level or zonal-level roles, the sources said.

Addressing party functionaries, Stalin said the DMK had lost an election but had not suffered a permanent defeat. "Let us consider this as an opportunity we have been given to plan the future of the party," Stalin said, according to .

He acknowledged that the functioning of party office-bearers was among the factors behind the electoral defeat and said the party needed to accept its mistakes.

Rather than examining individual constituencies and simply replacing party functionaries, Stalin said he had 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," he said.

The party has also formed a 38-member committee to collect feedback from grassroots workers and launched a dedicated website to allow the public to submit their views, reported.

Stalin also took aim at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and TVK leader C Joseph Vijay while addressing party workers.

He alleged that Vijay was "busy changing the names of all the projects" introduced by the DMK and said the chief minister treated the Legislative Assembly like a "movie set".

Stalin also called on DMK workers to strengthen grassroots mobilisation and focus on enrolling new members who were willing to work according to the party's principles and ideology.

He said the party's objective was to remain connected with people regardless of electoral victories or defeats and to work towards making a political comeback.

"We are specialists in making a comeback, and we will do it well," he added while appealing the party members to focus on grassroots mobilisation.

Prabhakar Jha is a journalist and digital news editor with nearly a decade of experience in online media, specialising in breaking news, politics, national affairs. Having built his career across fast-paced digital newsrooms, he has developed a reputation for delivering accurate, timely, and reader-friendly stories while leading editorial teams during high-pressure news cycles. In 2026, he joined LiveMint as a Digital Content Producer.

A postgraduate in History from the University of Delhi, Prabhakar combines strong editorial judgment with a keen interest in public policy, governance, economics, and global affairs. Before joining LiveMint, he worked with leading digital publications, including News9Live and The , where he handled breaking news, copy editing, headline writing, live coverage, and newsroom coordination.

Beyond the newsroom, Prabhakar is passionate about long-form writing and storytelling. He has a particular interest in global affairs. An avid reader with a love for literary fiction, he also enjoys blogging, poetry, and working on creative writing projects.

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