CHENNAI — With ten days remaining before Tamil Nadu's April 23 assembly polls, a TVK candidate in Kumbakonam has resolved the logistical challenge of a party president contesting two seats while campaigning across 234 constituencies by renting a three-dimensional projection of him for Rs 50,000 per day.

Vinoth Ravi, TVK's Thanjavur East district secretary contesting from Kumbakonam, confirmed that his campaign vehicle has been fitted with a holographic projection system sourced from Kaamaa Technologies. The Election Commission has approved the technology for four days of use, bringing the projected cost of the projected leader to a minimum of Rs 2 lakh for the constituency.

"It makes me feel energised and confident, as if our Thalapathy is right beside me, speaking directly to the people," said Ravi, who noted that the hologram synchronises audio from earlier speeches with the leader's lip movements, gestures, and body language, creating what he described as the impression of a live address.

Karthik Mari Pichai, founder and CEO of Kaamaa Technologies, confirmed his company has received an "overwhelming" number of enquiries from candidates across party lines. Requests have also arrived to recreate holographic avatars of late political icons M. Karunanidhi and J. Jayalalithaa, whose unavailability for physical campaigning is of a more permanent nature.

The hologram deployment follows an escalating series of physical substitutes for the TVK president. In Thiruverumbur, a candidate deployed a Vijay mannequin to bridge the gap. Lookalikes have since been recruited for roadshows. The hologram represents the current apex of this progression, offering synchronised audio that the mannequin was unable to provide.

The digital Vijay is projected from head to thighs through a campaign vehicle's sunroof, delivering speeches the original recorded on earlier occasions. This makes the hologram the only version of the leader whose remarks in Kumbakonam are guaranteed to be completed, as the physical Vijay returned from his April 10 Karaikudi stop without delivering a speech due to lack of time, and was granted a focused six-hour window for his April 12 Kanyakumari appearance.

TVK is contesting all 234 assembly constituencies. The party president is personally contesting two of them.

The hologram's daily rental of Rs 50,000 exceeds the Rs 4,000 monthly unemployment assistance that Vijay's manifesto promises to graduates — meaning one day of the leader's digital presence in a single constituency costs more than twelve days of the economic relief he has pledged to deliver to the state's youth.

"This is the first use of holographic AI technology in a Tamil Nadu election," said the CEO of Kaamaa Technologies. "It enables a leader to connect with people without being physically present."

The company confirmed it is also receiving enquiries from AIADMK representatives, suggesting the technology's appeal may transcend party lines in ways that the leaders themselves have not managed to.