CHENNAI: Highlighting the changing nature of electioneering, Information Technology Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Thursday said while politics in some sense has been about the same issues for centuries, the media, the methodology, the scale, the cost and the importance of winning have changed and have become much more vital.

Speaking at the launch of the book ‘Inside the War Room’ by political strategist ‘Aspire’ K Swaminathan, PTR pointed to the growing dominance of digital platforms in shaping public opinion.

“At one time, social media was only a small part of the system. Today, the perception is that social media is the system,” he said.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said elections are no longer fought by politicians alone but by an entire ecosystem.

“War rooms, IT wings, campaign strategists, psychologists and pollsters: without all these, no political party can win in a democratic country,” he said, adding campaigns lacking infrastructure would be a waste of money.