A 2- year-old political party won the elections despite economic growth by the previous government.
In 2026, high-stakes political battles in all 5 states were great. In Tamil Nadu, the previous government was led by MK Stalin of DMK. According to the data, the Tamil Nadu government has increased its record highest GDP growth of 11% in the entire country. It has increased in the areas of agriculture, automobiles, manufacturing and financial services, and tourism was the major source of growth in the last year, 2025-26 economic surveys.
But how come they lost elections with a new political party which was just 2 years old ?
Some of the experts made statements like that Good Governance has lost for freebies. You might think after development and economic survey reports, how could they lose elections.
The real answer is politics is more than economics or development. Trust and connecting with people helps more to win. TVK founder Vijay is a famous film actor with all dynamics suitable for politics. His stardom and films made him a public figure before he entered politics. People have firm belief in him, as he was doing selfless service rather than using politics for his career.
Actor-turned-politician Vijay and his party TVK gave a manifesto which was eye-catching and the public viewed it as a benefit for their growth. His charisma and public image drew huge public gatherings, where people believed his speech and words. Prashant Kishore, the political strategist, was behind his whole political campaigns and works. The people have saw DMK and AIADMK governance for a long time and both had alliances with national parties. They brutally targeted Vijay personally and professionally, which gained huge sympathy for TVK.
These were some basic reasons that paved the way towards the TVK party's victory despite DMK's 11% economic growth. Winning elections is all about ruling over people's trust more than economic surveys.
