Chennai: In the 2026 assembly polls, TVK was the most aggressive in pushing its campaign on Instagram. Five months later, Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypoll candidates across parties have adopted the same playbook, with dedicated teams, hyper-local pages, influencers and even war rooms for the four-week campaign. They are courting younger voters, who make up more than a third of the electorate in both seats.DMK, which admitted that poor social media outreach hurt its prospects in 2026, is now busy posting reels through newly created social media pages, amplifying speeches of party president M K Stalin and leader of the opposition Udhayanidhi. Its Madurantakam candidate I Paranthamen has posted nearly 100 items on Instagram, including slow-motion campaign videos set to Rajinikanth’s Jailer movie soundtrack. Other clips show him addressing younger voters, seeking support and repeating the party’s criticism of the TVK govt. In a video promoted by DMK handles, Paranthamen displays a suitcase during a campaign and says it was the cause of the bypoll.AIADMK’s Kanitha Sampath, who represented Madurantakam from 2011 to 2016, has also joined the digital push. Her new Instagram page has fewer than 100 followers, but local pages, including Chengalpattu_tn19 and Chengalpattu_updates, both with substantial followings, are amplifying her campaign. Videos featuring elderly women criticising Maragatham Kumaravel for leaving AIADMK and joining TVK have also gained traction.Maragatham Kumaravel, now the TVK candidate, is gaining more traction on social media than before. Several videos have crossed 5,00,000 views and recorded proportionately higher ‘likes’.In Dharapuram, TVK candidate P Sathyabama has started a dedicated Instagram page after leaving the AIADMK. Her posts counter the allegations that she had “betrayed” AIADMK by switching sides. One of the videos alleges that AIADMK candidate K Bhanumathi was also a party hopper. TVK reels extensively use CM C Joseph Vijay’s movie songs.Bhanumathi responds through a dedicated page, ‘Banumathi4dharapuram.’ It carries vox-pop clips and videos by locally popular influencers backing her. The page has also posted AI-generated videos portraying families struggling because Vijay did not waive cooperative loans as promised, affecting children’s education.For DMK’s S Suganya, former minister and party deputy general secretary M P Saminathan is leading much of the social media push. Suganya also uses slow-motion campaign videos with famous movie tunes as the BGM, while other reels emphasise her farming roots and modest background to build an emotional connection with voters.
