s the dust settles after the general elections of 2024, it is evident that the public verdict has changed. While the campaigns were dominated by bulldozer politics, the market's attention had shifted to bread-butter issues of jobs and prices. Despite its economic strides, India, the world’s largest democracy and a fairly young and steadily developing nation, faces numerous challenges, especially the baggage of poverty stemming from its history of colonisation. According to the World Bank, 13% of India’s population is still below the poverty level, and the country’s per-capita incomes are meagre by global standards. Impoverished people care more about their next meal than the state of the economy, logically and naturally so. Constant uncertainty and adverse socio-economic conditions exhaust their limited resources, leaving little room to focus on their ‘social problems’. Imagine a mother working the whole day, struggling to put food on the table for her child. In such a situation, where survival is at stake, national problems remain in the background. To address this, politicians emerge as 'saviours', unveiling a range of promises in their rallies, from cash to jobs to grains to your bills, they’ve got it all covered. However, the reality often starkly contrasts with these assurances. This was demonstrated by an independent candidate, Thulam Saravanan, in the 2021 Tamil Nadu state legislative election, wherein he promised a 100-day trip to the moon and an iceberg to keep the constituency cool. His manifesto and outlandish promises kept up with the long tradition of Tamil Nadu politics, grabbing attention, and for good reason. His aim was to raise awareness among people falling for freebies and to encourage voters to choose good candidates instead of those with the most unrealistic promises (Business Today, 2021).