As the sun set on Tuesday, the last day of electioneering for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, campaign vehicles went back into their sheds and tired political party workers took a break from wooing voters.
The day saw public meetings addressed by DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi at Chintadripet, BJP’s Venkaiah Naidu at Virugambakkam, Congress’ G.K. Vasan at Avadi, CPI (M)’s T. K. Rangarajan at Otteri and DMDK’s Premalatha Vijayakanth at Kolathur. Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa had wound up her campaign on Monday at a grand rally at T. Nagar. The city is still echoing with her now-famous remarks, “Who is a better administrator? Gujarat’s Modi or this Tamil Nadu lady?”
On Tuesday, party workers who wanted to make the most of the limited time, began the day early with door-to-door campaigns. In the evening, the narrow alleys of Chintadripet swelled with people who came to catch a glimpse of Mr. Karunanidhi. For Latha Bai, a resident of Vannara Street, Chintadripet, this is the seventh meeting that she has attended with her family.
Several people brought children along with them to such meetings. An ardent AIADMK follower brought her grandchild dressed up as M.G.R. to a meeting addressed by Ms. Jayalalithaa at Choolai.
Cadre of Left parties did a whirlwind tour of North Chennai and distributed pamphlets. Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate for Chennai North constituency U. Vasuki canvassed for votes in various parts of the constituency, including Otteri, Kolathur, Perambur, RK Nagar, Royapuram, and Thiru Vi Ka Nagar.
Last week, when the campaign picked up pace in the city, the BJP’s La. Ganesan had campaigned on a fishing boat at Uthandi. “We targeted large apartment complexes,” said party representative Lalitha Subash. DMDK MLA Babu Murugavel said they focussed on door-to-door campaigns in the city.
These past few weeks, as the campaign unfolded, the city witnessed glittering lights, blaring music and thousands of people holding election paraphernalia. As live orchestras comprising bands, chenda troupes, nagaswaram players and thapu melams belted out songs and fast rhythms, people waited patiently for leaders to come to the venues. Portions of several roads including the Tiruvottiyur High Road were hastily re-laid and cleared of garbage, and Chennai looked better. Much better.
(Reporting by K. Lakshmi, Serena Josephine M., Vivek Narayanan and Deepa H. Ramakrishnan)
