T.N. Assembly election 2026: AIADMK sharpens booth-level focus, rolls out data-driven campaign to recapture ‘missing votes’

AIADMK launches a data-driven campaign to regain missing votes, combining booth-level analysis with a cost-of-living outreach initiative.

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has put in place an unusually granular, twin-track electoral strategy aimed at countering the ruling DMK, combining booth-wise voter data analysis with a targeted cost-of-living outreach campaign, party sources have said.

At the core of the exercise is a comparative analysis of booth-level voting data from the 2021 Assembly election and the 2024 Parliamentary election to identify vote erosion vis-à-vis both the party’s past performance and the DMK’s gains. Party units have been instructed to quantify the “missing votes” in each booth and examine the local reasons behind the shifts.

“If a booth in Vilathikulam in the Vedaranyam Assembly segment shows a shortfall of, say, 124 votes, the reasons for that shift are identified — whether they are organisational lapses, weak outreach, or the failure of a particular approach,” a senior party functionary explained. Corrective measures include appointing booth-level functionaries drawn from the dominant communities in that area to rebuild engagement. Where multiple communities are present, representatives from each are to be inducted to smoothen relations.

Every AIADMK branch secretary has been provided with booth-wise lists of missing votes, with the data reviewed almost on a daily basis and monitored through weekly district-level meetings, sources said.

A former Minister from a delta district said the party had previously never examined booth-level performance with such precision. “Earlier, assessments were largely intuitive. This time, we know exactly where we stand and how many votes need to be recovered,” he said, adding that the exercise would help expose structural weaknesses within the organisation.

Parallel to this, the party has launched an intensive cost-of-living campaign, titled ‘Vidiya Aatchi Makkalin Billae Satchi’, spearheaded by party’s Information Technology wing.