With election heat building up and the summer sun already unforgiving, tempers are wearing thin on the campaign trail. In Pallapatti, Salem, NTK chief coordinator Seeman found himself grappling with a faulty microphone that kept cutting into his speech. After a few failed attempts to set it right, frustration got the better of him, causing him to fling the mic into the campaign vehicle and carry on with another. The moment did not go unnoticed, particularly as the microphone was the party’s poll symbol in 2024, prompting quiet curiosity over whether such a reaction would have been thinkable then
Sneha Sivashanmugam
Locked out of the line-up
Seat-sharing talks involving the AIADMK and its allies, including the BJP and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, had their share of action. But the day’s real clash unfolded not within the alliance but outside. As AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami announced allocations inside, a sizeable section of the media was left outside the office, held back by security. What followed was near-theatrical as journalists were seen knocking, arguing, and pressing for entry. On a day of political arithmetic, many reporters found themselves calculating not seats but how to get past the door
Subashini Vijayakumar