With political parties taking up the streets in their decorated vehicles, party members calling the attention of residents to deliver speeches and announcements, and posters, banners and even paintings of political figures on walls; The city of Chennai gets busier as it nears the polling date. However, through conversations with citizens of Chennai, the ongoing campaigning by political parties have become a point to focus on as more candidates are making use of digital platforms to promote themselves and their parties.
Already muralists have voiced out how the increasing shift to social media platforms for campaigning has led to a lack of work for them as in previous years, as election time saw a significant rise in huge murals of well-known political figures and candidates in key spots of the city. One such example of this is the mural of Chief Minister MK Stalin near the Gandhi Nagar bus stop.
Madurai, which has been a major long-standing printing hub, especially for offset printing of posters and pamphlets for election purposes, sees a lack for printing orders due to the stricter rules of the Election Commission of India (ECI) as well as campaigns going digital. The restrictions placed on wall stickers, flex boards, and banners along with the lengthy process of obtaining certifications have led to a rise in video-based submissions rather than for posters and such according to sources in certification centres.
However, citizens’ noticed little change in the prominence of digital campaigns in comparison with posters and banners as it used to be. Many say that the social media factor has come into play this election season and see parties advertising in Television commercials or ads on YouTube. Other than these constant ads, citizens also notice how Instagram reels and posts by official accounts and by influencers making parodies have also been a major campaigning technique.
A college student aged 18, notes, “Even though there is a lot of stuff online about the whole elections, I’ve seen a lot of posters around my area too. Many of the candidates also came to my area as a group and give speeches on the road”. Another citizen, when asked on which campaign they believed to be more effective, said, “I am not sure, but I think that there is a lot more use of social media, such as, Instagram and FaceBook. It’s not a bad thing actually, but it can be really irritating when you see the same ads all the time when you’re trying to read and watch something else.”
Another citizen took to FaceBook to call out a situation where a poster of a specific party was stuck on their door without their consent or notice. Apart from this particular scenario, they stated in their post, there were other instances where the same had occurred and it had been left to them to remove the poster and fix the damage it left on their door and walls.
As the election season draws to an end, it is interesting to see the different campaigning techniques employed by political parties to reach citizens. With social media and the digital landscape more active than ever, the shift to digital platforms for marketing is one that was expected. Despite the significance of social media as a tool to reach people, political parties don’t seem to be abandoning paper-based campaigns, as there were still plenty of banners and posters to be seen all over the city.
Student Intern during April – June 2026