Tamil Nadu polls: Actor Vijay cycles to polling booth, sparks social media storm

Tamil superstar Vijay cycled to a polling booth in Chennai to cast his vote, causing a brief flutter in the neighbourhood streets and a storm of speculation online that it was some form of protest.

Videos which spread quickly on sharing platforms showed the actor cycling to a booth in Neelankarai with a bunch of fans on motorcycles trying their best to stay around him.

That the cycle was red and black - the DMK's colours - quickly led to the conclusion that the actor, called 'Thalapathy' ( Commander) by his fans, was sending a message against the ruling AIADMK on the high price of fuel.

Within a few hours however Vijay's publicist Riaz K Ahmed clarified that it was not meant to be a show of protest.

"Thalapathy Vijay decided to go by cycle instead of using the car because the poll booth was right next to his residence and taking the car might have congested the road even more. There was no other intention behind it!, " Ahmed's tweet said.

BJP candidate Khushbu Sundar then took a dig at DMK leaders who saw politics in it, tweeting, "Actor Vijay pedaling to vote is not a message on fuel price hike. DMK should stop riding on someone else's bike."

Vijay, who enjoys tremendous fan following in Tamil Nadu with his hit films like Master and Bigil, has not taken any overt political stance so far. But some of his public statements have been interpreted by critics of the AIADMK as being against the government.