DMK launches campaign targeting women voters

Chennai: Days after disbursing ₹5,000 to 1.31 crore women beneficiaries, the DMK launched a door to door outreach campaign titled Vellum Tamil Pengal (Victorious Tamil Women) on Tuesday, targeting women voters.

The campaign, spearheaded by DMK's women's wing, would have 10 women cadres assigned to each booth, with a mandate to cover 20 households per day. They would explain DMK's welfare schemes, canvas votes and guage the voter mood, which would later be compiled and sent to the party.




The outreach blends welfare messaging through conventional campaigning with technology-driven engagement. Each household is handed a booklet whose first page carries a QR code. When scanned using a mobile phone, it plays a pre-recorded `augmented reality video' of chief minister M K Stalin, on the screen. Party functionaries said the use of AR as an attempt to create a personalised connect between CM and voters.

Cadres, named as Stalin's Magalir Padai, are then tasked with gauging voter mood. If residents express support, a sticker declaring the household's backing for the DMK is pasted with consent on the wall or door. A booth digital agent accompanying the team records feedback through the ‘Makkaludan Stalin' app.

While the campaign seeks to consolidate women voters, who have emerged as a decisive vote block, it also attempts to activate women cadres of DMK, who played only a less prominent role during election campaigns.

DMK men said the campaign has been rolled out after intensive preparation. Stalin held nearly three-hour virtual meeting with booth in-charges and district secretaries on Feb 20, outlining booth-wise responsibilities. Subsequently, training sessions for women cadres were conducted on Feb 21 and 22.

Cadres who carried out the campaign say the response has been favourable. `` We covered 20 houses today. Except for one house, which belonged to a BJP functionary, everyone was in support of the DMK govt because of free bus travel and Rs 5000 disbursement," Devi Kamal, DMK women's wing cadre of ward 187 in Madipakkam, told TOI.

Another DMK women's wing cadre G Samundeeswari from Royapuram said the public were aware about the welfare schemes of the DMK govt. "Women patiently listened to our campaign. We assured them that they will receive Rs 2,000 in the next DMK's tenure," Samundeeswari said.