After the poll campaign concludes, it is the turn of the people in Tennessee to express their opinions by voting

With Tamil Nadu scheduled to vote in the first round of the multi-phase election on Friday, the state’s intense campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, the shortest in the state’s electoral history, came to an end at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

The state has never seen a general election quite like this one, mainly because the current central party, the governing BJP, has mobilized all of its resources to take on the two Dravidian giants not only in this election but also in the 2026 TN Assembly vote.

To win over voters, BJP heavyweights Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda, and Nirmala Sitharaman, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, often visited Tamil Nadu. However, the BJP’s national leadership’s main target was the DMK, which was derided for dynastic politics and corruption. The AIADMK, which was an alliance partner till last year, was mostly spared by them, and they even paid tribute to its late leaders, M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa.

However, in the latter stages of the campaign, BJP state president K Annamalai incited the AIADMK by claiming that the EPS-led party will vanish after the election. Edappadi K Palaniswami, the general secretary of the Dravidian party, who had up till then been circumspect in his criticism of the BJP, launched a vicious assault in response to this.

The fight in the state is essentially a four-way race between the coalitions headed by the BJP, the DMK, and the AIADMK, as well as the lone NTK, which has been promoting its independent position as a central political platform.

Divided by their political affiliations to the Saffron Party, AIADMK and DMK

But the two Dravidian majors persisted in saying that this is just a bipolar competition between them. The DMK is essentially asking for a vote on the effectiveness of its administration during the previous three years, even though the poll is for the Lok Sabha. MK Stalin, the chief minister, presented it as a battle to reclaim democracy. Stalin was scathing in his condemnation of the BJP, but he also accused the AIADMK of having a covert partnership with the BJP. Additionally, the CM used the phrase “all 40 (constituencies) is ours” to portray the election as being lopsided in favor of the DMK.

For the main opposition party, AIADMK, Edappadi K Palaniswami, the general secretary, was a one-man show. As his campaign gained traction in the latter stages, several poll analysts projected that the opposition party may thwart DMK’s hopes of winning with a landslide victory.

Without mentioning the leaders of the BJP or Prime Minister Modi by name, the leader of the AIADMK said that “road shows won’t work in Tamil Nadu.” He said unequivocally in an interview with TNIE that neither the NDA nor the INDIA Alliance will achieve its desired outcome. According to an RTI response that Annamalai was able to get, the BJP heavily politicized the Katchatheevu problem in an effort to malign the Congress and DMK. However, after considerable controversy, the recovery of the islet from Sri Lanka was not mentioned once in the BJP’s agenda for the 2024 election.

Palaniswami said that Stalin’s revelation of a covert connection was not appropriate given the prominence of the chief minister. He expressed his displeasure at Stalin’s disrespectful language. Stalin, however, was often referred to by EPS as a “toy CM” or “bommai mudhalamaichar” who is “managed” by others. Stalin called Palaniswami “paadham thaangi Palaniswami,” which translates to “one who acts as a footrest for others.”

Obtaining their preferred insignia proved to be challenging for several political parties, particularly those outside the NDA. In a few of days, the NTK had to make Mike, its new emblem, well known. High-pitched internet campaigning and the release of distinct election manifestos by prominent candidates for each of their seats were other notable features of this election.

The proliferation of polls conducted throughout the election, outside of TV and newspapers, was another intriguing feature.