Tamil Nadu is having a fairly bizarre election. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa (68, aka Amma) is expected to lead her AIADMK to the single-largest position in the assembly, though it is to be seen whether she scrapes through with a majority or tops a hung assembly. Her campaign has been low-key — seven rallies till Saturday — due to some mystery. Amma leaves Poes Garden in the morning, choppers to the rally site and addresses crowds from an air-conditioned booth; she barely walks and addresses the rally seated. She returns home every evening, leading to speculation over what prevents her from spending a night away from Chennai. Thus, at DMK rallies she is called "Helicopter Rani".

The mystery — about which there is absolute leak-proof secrecy in party and in government – was apparently complicated by her three-week imprisonment in Karnataka in September-October 2014, for a disproportionate assets case (the Supreme Court granted her bail, and the case was eventually dismissed). Tamil journalists say Amma was earlier living precariously, giving in to her sweet tooth and leaving it to her physicians to keep adverse effects at bay. Jail deprived her of any special care and it impacted her health (as jail-time often does), with all sorts of rumours flying about upon her release. Whatever the truth may be, her campaign has been less-than-full-throttle.