CHENNAI: Perhaps this one is a waveless election. AIADMK‘s fridge offer did stir up the habitual expectants a bit, but DMK’s 8,000 Illatharasi coupon outdid it. The fledgling TVK’s list of offers took novelty factors out of all manifestos. Maybe the voters know they will get something – in cash or kind – no matter which party comes to power.“What is the trend,” most asked, not waiting for any answer.Maybe this is a textbook poll where a ruling party showcases what it has done and how it plans to outdo itself if given another chance.And where a principal opposition condemns the incumbent outright and then spreads its own wares like a seasoned salesman. With two other players spicing up the game by trying to upset the status quo.A wave makes politicians’ task much easier. They simply ride on the fear or anger, exacerbate it and milk votes. They need to only tap the right emotion, and votes pour in. But here is an election in which AIADMK supremo Edappadi K Palaniswami, who was off the blocks first, tried out almost every weapon in his arsenal – dynastic politics, law and order, corruption, women safety, narcotic drugs, centre-state relations and what not. TVK’s Joseph Vijay too tread the same path. But nothing spectacularly caught the public imagination. Stalin & Co harped on a hostile Union govt, AIADMK’s servility, etc. While training its guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and EPS, DMK, very carefully, avoided any mention of Vijay, perhaps to deprive him of additional limelight. This strategy too wore out, as days went by, without lighting up the campaign trail.An exasperated NTK leader Seeman even started cursing his listeners. “At least 15 buried corpses would have got up from their graves and voted for me. You are totally unresponsive,” he was heard saying at a street corner meeting.It was, then, down to regular business. Leaders stuck to their own manifesto or picked holes in the manifestos of others. Except when EPS wobbled a bit and uncharacteristically insulted three generations of DMK leaders – M Karunanidhi, M K Stalin, Kanimozhi and Udhayanidhi – there were no ‘low-grade’ remarks and retorts in the entire campaign. There was one more flareup and personal references, again by EPS when he hit out against his former colleague K A Sengottaiyan. They proved to be mere ripples in the end.Result: There were no emotional, communal or caste-based issues to invoke or bank on. We saw leaders slugging it out mid-summer, parroting page after page of write-ups on how good they will be if voted to power. It has proved to be a ‘normal’ election.Will at least a high voter turnout give an indication of voter preferences before the results are officially out? It is traditionally assumed that a higher turnout means bad news for the incumbent govt. Not this time. The sanitised poll rolls, post-SIR, will result in a turnout percentage that is much higher than in the previous elections. But will more people actually vote? We’ll know today. As for the results, wait for May 4.