Kumar Bahukhandi
TVK president Vijay receives a certificate from the Returning Officer for the Perambur Constituency at Loyola College on May 4, 2026. – Photo Credit: ANI
Chief Minister Stalin, several cabinet colleagues defeated
Tamil cinema’s top actor C. Joseph Vijay’s fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Monday May 4, 2026 made a stunning electoral debut, emerging as the single largest party with 108 seats in the 17th Tamil Nadu Assembly election. In doing so, it disrupted a nearly half-century-old bipolar landscape dominated by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
Taking on multi-party fronts led by the two Dravidian majors, the TVK, powered almost entirely by Vjay’s charisma, fell just 10 seats short of the halfway mark in the 234-member House. The party secured an impressive 35% vote share, polling over 1.6 crore votes across regions, communities, and religions. Vijay himself won from both Perambur and Tiruchi East.
Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin defeated in Kolathur: who is TVK’s V.S. Babu, the winner?
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, several Cabinet colleagues, and Speaker M. Appavu were defeated, as the DMK was reduced to the principal Opposition with 59 seats in what became a three-cornered contest. The AIADMK finished third with around 47 seats, with its leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami retaining his home constituency. The Naam Tamilar Katchi, led by Seeman, which contested all 234 seats, once again failed to open its account.
Tamil Nadu election results 2026: Full list of winners
This marks the first time Tamil Nadu voters, known for delivering decisive mandates for a single party or front (DMK alliance, 2006), have produced a hung Assembly. The verdict reflects both fatigue with established Dravidian parties and faith in a 51-year-old who walked away from a ₹200-crore-per-film career at its peak after building a fan base over three decades. The voters favoured a “change” and rejected Stalin’s positioning of the election as a fight between “Tamil Nadu and New Delhi” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of a “double-engine sarkar”.
Prominent candidates who were defeated include Union Minister of State L. Murugan (BJP, Avanashi – Reserved); former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan (BJP, Mylapore); BJP All India Mahila Morcha president Vanathi Srinivasan (Coimbatore North); BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran (Sattur); and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai (Sriperumbudur – Reserved).
If Mr. Vijay eventually becomes Chief Minister, he would mirror the rapid political ascent of N.T. Rama Rao, the only other actor without prior political grounding to capture power so swiftly after entering politics (Andhra Pradesh, 1983).
With the Congress (DMK ally) and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (AIADMK ally) expected to win five seats each, it remains to be seen from where and how Vijay musters up the numbers to form the next government. Other DMK allies, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, and the Indian Union Muslim League, are set to win two seats each, while the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam leads in one. The Bharatiya Janata Party and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazagam, both allies of the AIADMK, have won one seat each.
Since launching the party in 2024, Vijay had run an unconventional campaign, framing the contest primarily as a fight between TVK and the DMK, while dismissing the AIADMK as part of the “BJP and others”. This strategy of identifying the DMK as a “political opponent” and the BJP as an “ideological opponent”, appears to have consolidated anti-incumbency votes and attracted first-time voters, youth, and women, while also resonating with older voters through his enduring appeal among their children and grandchildren.
TVK and the dynamics of disruption
The TVK swept the Greater Chennai region — which had delivered 36 seats to the DMK in 2021 — and performed strongly across urban centres. It made notable inroads in western cities such as Coimbatore and Salem, traditionally AIADMK bastions, and held its own in the south, winning from Madurai to Thoothukudi to Kanniyakumari, defeating established leaders.
Unlike the DMK and AIADMK, where largely the candidate strength complemented party identity, TVK’s success was overwhelmingly driven by Vijay’s charisma, arguably the decisive factor behind the victories of its candidates, who were mostly strangers outside their close circles.
