The 2026 Assembly results in Tamil Nadu have revealed that traditional campaign style is now passé. Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which was officially founded by actor-turned-politician Vijay in February, 2024, within two years has been able to hold forth in a State that had for more than fifty years kept their tryst with the Dravidian parties, reveals that street corner meetings, reaching out personally to voters or pampering pocket boroughs by donations to temples or social functions does not matter.  

What TVK had tapped was the over 5.5 million followers that Vijay has on his official X handle @actorvijay, his over 16.1 M followers on instagram and his massive following on his official Facebook page @ActorVijay with over 7.7 million likes. It can be well assumed that his massive fan following had translated into grassroot level workers who had influenced not just their families but also their near ones. The other parties seem not to have reckoned with this passive method of canvassing for votes, which was unobtrusive.

Even on the day of polling, at many booths there were more than ten party workers from DMK, AIADMK and other national parties giving away booth slips but for the TVK, the party workers were minimal on the ground. Even the candidates were unknown faces, with many media houses scrambling to arrange mug shots of these new guys on the political scene. TVK banked only on one and the only known face ‘Vijay’.