Ranjitha Gunasekaran

Deputy Resident Editor, Tamil Nadu @NewIndianXpress | MPhil Social Anthropology @Cambridge_Uni | Feminist | Food-lover | Dog person | She/her | Views personal

[Ranjitha Gunasekaran @ranjim]

Tho ECI told HC polls would be accessible for disabled voters in #TamilNadu, 18 @NewIndianXpress reporters audited nearly 50 polling booths in TN & found reality is very different.
@JDheepthi @NirupamaViswa @Dvincentaro @pearsonlenekar @VivaneshTNIE
https://t.co/NDWXQ0lUIM

[Ranjitha Gunasekaran @ranjim]

@lbvenkatesh @pkr_madras https://t.co/SyDeTZ2KKx

[Prabhakar Tamilarasu || பிரபாகர் தமிழரசு @pkr_madras]

Inside TVK’s war room: The silent operators who scripted Vijay’s winning formula.

A 40-member Gen Z team, led by chief strategist Kapil Sahu, spent a year mapping anti-incumbency seat by seat, recruiting disgruntled DMK and AIADMK insiders, and quietly building the coalition that brought Vijay to power. Their strategy in three words: “Less Vijay, more crazy.”

https://t.co/hqXPxDJ8Nb

[Ranjitha Gunasekaran @ranjim]

@subhajrao @pkr_madras It’s mentioned in the copy

[Prabhakar Tamilarasu || பிரபாகர் தமிழரசு @pkr_madras]

Read the story of how the 77-year-old Dravidian major, DMK, lost the plot in 2026 election.

https://t.co/xZL4GcUlBo

[Prabhakar Tamilarasu || பிரபாகர் தமிழரசு @pkr_madras]

TNIE interviewed more than 40 functionaries, strategists and leaders in the party and found fundamental problems that include a surplus of strategists and power centres that stymied decisions, flow of information and effectively throttled any bid to address the simmering anti-incumbency that the party was facing.

[Prabhakar Tamilarasu || பிரபாகர் தமிழரசு @pkr_madras]

Beyond Reels, what really went wrong in DMK?

Competing strategy firms that worked at cross purposes, regional strongmen who filtered anti-incumbency warnings from the ground, too many power centres, and a leadership that ignored the rising threat of Vijay's TVK until it was too late - this is the story of how the 77-year-old Dravidian major, DMK, lost the plot in 2026 election

[Prabhakar Tamilarasu || பிரபாகர் தமிழரசு @pkr_madras]

One RS seat allocated to Congress👇

[Prabhakar Tamilarasu || பிரபாகர் தமிழரசு @pkr_madras]

TVK allocates on RS seat to Congress party. The party is more likely to nominate Praveen Chakravarty for RS from Tamil Nadu.

[B Anbuselvan @anbu_madras]

Why the TVK government is unable to waive crop loans unlike the previous govts ?

It would require Rs 15,000 crore to implement the poll promise and the entire amount would have to be settled within 60 days from the date the loan waiver is given effect. The RBI norm came into effect in November 2025, said sources.

The crop loan waiver of Rs 6,100 crore announced by former CM J Jayalalithaa in 2016 was reimbursed to cooperative banks in five annual installments.

Similarly, the Rs 12,800 crore crop loan waiver announced by former CM EPS just three months before the 2021 Assembly election was repaid by the subsequent DMK government in five annual installments of around Rs 2,100 to Rs 2,400 crore each.

"In total, the DMK government settled dues of nearly Rs 19,000 crore to NABARD and cooperative institutions from 2021-22 to 2025-26 to implement the crop loan, jewel loan and SHG loan waivers. The incumbent TVK government would have to repay around Rs 15,000 crore within 60 days if it chooses to implement its poll promise, which would not be an easy task for any government,” said an official.

Apart from TVK, the AIADMK also promised a waiver of agricultural loans without any ceiling. However, the DMK refrained from promising waiver of any category of loans in its poll manifesto.

The regulatory hurdle likely to prevent political parties from making such promises in future.

Officials recalled that ahead of the 2026 Assembly election, when there was widespread expectation that the DMK would announce a jewel loan waiver in its manifesto, a large number of borrowers pledged jewellery of up to 5 sovereigns with cooperative banks.

As a result, the outstanding jewel loan portfolio in cooperative institutions swelled to nearly Rs 40,000 crore. However, after examining the loan data from the cooperation department, the DMK manifesto preparation committee chose not to include jewel loan waiver promise in its election manifesto.

@xpresstn @newindia

https://t.co/fh1ZJehGXk

[Vivanesh Parthiban @VivaneshTNIE]

Responding to criticism about law and order, #CMVijay said the previous regimes had allowed ganja and other intoxicants to spread deep into society and now blaming his government. He said efficient officers have been posted in key positions and announced that earlier announced “Singapen Padai” force will be launched within a week as part of swift measures to strengthen policing and public safety. @xpresstn @NewIndianXpress

[Anto T Joseph @AntoJoseph]

A bill like this from #TASMAC is still a distant dream in #TamilNadu...
(This is what I recd from a govt-run liquor outlet in Kochi today. Not a rupee extra charged!)
Can @TVKVijayHQ bring a change?

[Thinakaran Rajamani @thinak_]

Residents belonging to SC Christian community began road blockade condemning sickle attack spree by a gang which left six injured in Nettur village near Alangulam of Tenkasi district

[S A PRAVEENA @SAPRAVEENA1]

For the full story, read here:
https://t.co/Okf3PPbsK6

[S A PRAVEENA @SAPRAVEENA1]

With the lake housing the newly opened boathouse in Thiruvottiyur drying up, residents said the boathouse built at Rs 4.62 crore is yet another project that was rolled out with little thought towards its long-term feasibility. @chennaicorp @xpresstn @PriyarajanDMK @CMOTamilnadu

[Anto T Joseph @AntoJoseph]

Tasmac staff tell CM Vijay they are forced to pay Rs 1.33 lakh/ month for shop upkeep

https://t.co/hiXCdReG3f

[Anto T Joseph @AntoJoseph]

Here are the online stories:

No cheers as Tasmac still reeks of corruption in TN - https://t.co/T12WK33VvV

[Anto T Joseph @AntoJoseph]

If anyone believed that TVK has cleaned up #TASMAC corruption…

My colleagues @guruvanmikanat1 & @m_saravanan1705 just did a reality check on the ground

@xpresstn
⁦@NewIndianXpress⁩

[Prabhakar Tamilarasu || பிரபாகர் தமிழரசு @pkr_madras]

வணக்கம் ஶ்ரீராம்,

இது தேர்தல் ஆணையம் சார்பில் வெளியிடப்பட்டிருக்கும் “Detailed Results” ஆவணத்தில் இருந்து எடுக்கப்பட்டது. அதில், வேட்பாளரின் “Category” பகுதியில் அவர் பட்டியல் சமூகம்(SC) என்றே குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளனர். இது அதிகாரப்பூர்வமான தகவல்.

இரண்டு- தென் மாவட்டத்தில் மற்றுமொரு பொதுத் தொகுதியில் பட்டியல் சமூகத்தைச் சேர்ந்த ஒரு இளைஞர் தவெக சார்பில் வேட்பாளராக நிறுத்தப்பட்டு அவர் வெற்றியும் பெற்றுள்ளார். ஆனால், அவர் தன்னை “பட்டியல் சமூகம்” என அடையாளப்படுத்திக்கொள்ள விரும்பவில்லை, அதனால், அது எந்த அரசு ஆவணத்திலும் இல்லை. (ஆனால், தவெக.,வின் கட்சி ஆவணத்தில் அது குறிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ளது)

நன்றி.

[RadhakrishnanRK, PhD. @RKRadhakrishn]

Why is #tvk taking in the three #AIADMK #MLAs facing disqualification morally wrong ?

[S A PRAVEENA @SAPRAVEENA1]

#Sanitaryworkers employed under Chennai Enviro Solutions Private Ltd, one of the contractors handling waste management for @chennaicorp, are forced to pay 'bribes' and 'fines' for taking leave and missing targets. @xpresstn @sameerangs @CMOTamilnadu
Link: https://t.co/sr0aQ8Z8Q2

[B Anbuselvan @anbu_madras]

HR & CE Minister S Ramesh’s mother still works as a house cook, while his father is a temple priest.

The fading poster of 2012 Vijay-starrer ‘Thuppakki’ pasted on the old iron bureau in the cramped 250-square-foot house in Maraimalai Nagar stands testament to S Ramesh’s journey from a 17-year-old fan to a member of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s cabinet.

Interestingly, even after Ramesh became an MLA on May 4 and a minister on May 21, his parents have not stopped working. Father K Srinivasan continues as a priest at the Sri Shiva Vishnu temple in Maraimalai Nagar, while mother S. Sumathi (55) commutes daily from Maraimalai Nagar to Mylapore for a cooking job. When TNIE visited their home on May 22 and May 24 — on both days she had already left for work — the scene was almost unbelievable for the parents of a sitting minister.

The house was built on a private temple land where the family resides without paying rent.

For decades, my family lived a modest life with limited means, never imagining that one among us would one day take oath as a minister in the state. After I relocated to this house, the monthly rental issues subsided as I don't pay any rent,” said Srinivasan

@xpresstn

https://t.co/wCrb7TSgre