Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Minister S. Ramesh on Sunday said the department plans to introduce an improved online darshan token system in phases across temples in Tamil Nadu for better crowd management and to curb corruption in the issuance of darshan passes.The Minister told reporters in Coimbatore that the department was upgrading its existing online booking platform and would introduce features for senior citizens, pregnant women, parents carrying infants, and persons with disabilities. Temple-wise studies were being carried out to determine the number of devotees who could be accommodated during specific time slots, based on which tokens would be issued.The Minister said the system was intended to address recurring crowd congestion at major temples during weekends and festivals. Tokens would be issued both online and through counters at temples to ensure that devotees without access to digital services were not disadvantaged.Mr. Ramesh said the department would initially implement the system on a trial basis in select temples before extending it to larger temples and subsequently across Tamil Nadu. Safeguards would be incorporated to prevent bulk bookings and misuse by agents, while options such as WhatsApp-based booking services were also being explored.The Minister also announced that temple elephant rejuvenation camps would be conducted in Tamil Nadu after a gap of several years.Asked about AIADMK leaders joining TVK, Mr. Ramesh said the party would admit individuals from other political parties only if they accepted its principles, vision and programmes. He said the leadership would not allow any dilution of the party’s ideology.Responding to remarks by former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin that the present government would not last even three months, Mr. Ramesh dismissed the criticism and said the government would continue to focus on serving people.The Minister also asserted that surprise inspections of temples would continue. He said action would be taken against anyone found guilty of wrongdoing, without regard to caste, religion, gender or social status. Published - June 07, 2026 10:27 pm IST